


The Snow White Theory

by SnowRyder



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward characters are awkward, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, F/M, Full Mass Effect playthrough, Gen, LITERALLY, Like, Multi, Romance, Spoilers, Super duper slow burn, prepare yourselves for a long-ass story, remember these are young 20 year-olds, they will act their age sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-05-04 23:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 122,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14604591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowRyder/pseuds/SnowRyder
Summary: The Ryder's were a highly skilled and intelligent family, that was never in question. One thing they can't do to save their lives? Maintain diplomatic relations with, frankly, anyone. Enter Victoria.Victoria had always been unique. This led her on an adventure into the future. 162 years to be precise. It's one thing to be taken away from everything you ever loved, it's an entirely different story to actively cryogenically preserve yourself and find yourself 600+ years in the future.Or, the story of the Ryder/Tempest ambassador that needed to be made to fulfill my many fantasies.





	1. The Glass Coffin

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first time publishing any kind of story. It will be a loooong read, as in, almost a full playthrough of Andromeda, with a couple chapters in the beginning to establish a good foundation for the rest of the story. Besides the obvious original character, I'll be keeping everything as canonical as I can. I really made this because there were some inconsistencies that bothered me and I figured I may as well write them and fix these issues. It all sort of spiraled out of control and here we are! Please give me loads of feedback as I will greatly appreciate it! The rating will be going up later on down the line!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***
> 
> P.S: Getting it out of the way now, Sara and Jaal are my OTP. Fight me on it! My OC will be in a relationship, but that'll come about later!

_Prologue._

  
Victoria had never understood the fascination others had for her looks. She was no fool. She knew she was arbitrarily attractive. In 2018, she was a rarity. Fair-skinned and petite, she was very different from the other teens of her time. Of course she could appreciate the jet-black of her hair and her deep brown eyes, she just didn’t understand the emphasis that so many put on her outward appearance. However, many found her looks superior to most others. Allusions to fairy tale princesses were never in short supply. Yes, Victoria had heard it all in her 16 years. While she found it odd, she was still a teen after all, she took it all with a grace beyond her years and merely inclined her head at her many admirers and continued with whatever she was doing. She lived her life like any other teen her age, she loved social media and was a product of her millennial generation. But along with her exceptional beauty came her kindness. It did not affect her genuinely gentle demeanor whenever she was accosted by people who would hassle her about her looks. She would just smile and remained unspoiled by the compliments. There were many other of her attributes that she felt were more worthy of praise than her looks. Her mind, in particular, held a sharpness that lent a cunning glean in her otherwise docile eyes. Victoria was a well-rounded individual with looks, kind-heartedness, and intelligence that made her such an attractive person, that it gravitated all sorts towards her.

  
That included all sorts of nefarious types.

  
Victoria was walking home from school late one evening when her entire life changed course.

  
One moment she was walking home thinking of her family, a sister and both of her parents, the next, she was lying on a cold table surrounded by a thick glass and staring unseeingly up at strangers gathered round her. She did not understand. Could not process anything going on. All that was going through her mind was the thought of her family, worrying about where she might be.

  
One of the strangers stroked her face and she had enough presence to flinch away, but they were unbothered by her fear. That’s when a glass lid sealed her away.  
Her last thoughts, as a cold thick gas consumed her and filled her lungs were… if only I got to see my family one last time… and she knew nothing more.

_Interlude._

  
They had watched her for so long. For so long, they had planned and schemed and built. Now they were ready for the conservation. While untested and crude, the Deathless Sleep, was finished and ready. There were no thoughts of ill intent. This was an act of mercy!

  
When the Chosen walked by the van, they moved swiftly to protect their charge from harming herself.

  
She was quickly sedated and as she slumped onto the floor of the van one of the group members could not believe the Chosen’s beauty. They had to stop and stare, entirely fixated. Porcelain skin, completely unblemished. Long sooty lashes. Naturally pink full lips. She had her exerted herself a bit in her panic and a light blush from strain graced the apples of her cheeks. While small, her presence filled the van and the group member reverently sighed before focusing on the task at hand.

  
They reached their base of operations quickly and moved the Chosen inside before any eyes could find them. They could not be disturbed, or everything would be ruined. In the middle of the procedure floor, lay a glass casket, the laying place of their beloved Chosen.

  
The Chosen stirred awake and lay frozen, possibly with fear, and she did not look around at her surroundings. It was no matter; her arms were secured to lay across her chest and her legs strapped down to ensure she would not try and leave them. The group moved around the room, getting the procedure ready with practiced movements. They had trained to start the process of beginning the Deathless Sleep so many times to make sure they moved as seamlessly as possible and so they were ready in no time. The reverent group member could not contain themselves before the procedure was finished and stroked the cheek of the Chosen as delicately as they could. For one moment, it was simply bliss. The Chosen stared at them and it felt as if she was looking right through them. There was no more time for more touching however, as the final step was about to begin.  
The other group members watched in awe as the domed glass lid closed over the Chosen and the anesthetic gas encapsulated her. They watched as she fell deep into the Deathless Sleep. Her skin, so white already seemed to refract like trillions of tiny diamonds as the freezing properties of the gas worked to preserve their prized possession. The white of the simple long dress they had changed her into only accentuated the rosiness of her cheeks and the blackness of her full head of hair. The deed was done.

  
All gathered around the casket and watched the vitals, inlaid onto the side of the casket. Her vitals read healthy and now all the group could do was watch over their precious charge and keep her safe. Conserve her for the rest of time. Beauty such as hers could not be let to waste away.  
The Snow White test was in progress and the hounds of Hades would not fail the most beautiful woman in the world.

_2180\. 162 years later._

  
Alec Ryder walked down one of the long halls of the Citadel, shaking his head in disbelief. Sometimes, humanity really was a piece of work.

  
Word had just reached the politician that there was a strange auction being held on Omega. Normally, Alec wouldn’t bother with the dredges of filth that resided on that planet, but this auction was different. Besides all the usual assortment of illegal fire arms and illicit drugs being sold, there was supposedly a live human specimen being bid. While they would miss interrupting the bid by a day, the intel they received showed the female would most likely be bought by a collector of some sort who held some sway on the planet.  
Alec had just come from a meeting with his colleagues who all decided with his Alliance training, he would accompany a small extraction team to retrieve the poor soul who had ended up in the clutches of some bizarre fetishist. Humans were still new to the other species in the galaxy and the human had probably been collected for study. Alec only hoped it was just for study. Hopefully they hadn’t been harmed. There was not much information on the human herself, only the small tidbit of information of a live human being sold off that had been passed around from a few collections and was being put up for bid by human raiders or pirates. She was described in her bidding portrayal as “the most beautiful woman in the galaxy”.

  
Alec snorted thinking about that bit and shook his head again. He was too old for this shit.

_A few days later…_

  
Alec shot the last krogan squarely in the head and looked around the warehouse. Getting to Omega had been easy. Finding the warehouse where the human was stashed was a bit more difficult. Luckily, years of being in the game had given him some helpful turian contacts who were able to give him the navpoint to end this person’s nightmare. Now to find the poor bastard and get them back home.

  
Alec stood still and listened for the tell-tale sign of a captive but heard no pounding on doors or even soft crying. Where was this person?

  
“Alec…” called one of team members who had just opened a door in the warehouse.

  
He looked over expectantly, waiting to hear a cry of relief from the rescued captive, but there was just silence.

  
“Don’t tell me the captives dead.” Alec said in exasperation. If he came all this way for a dead human on Omega, he would be pissed. His team member just shook his head and remained in shocked silence. And that’s what it was, shock. Alec became increasingly worried as the other two members of his team just stared at what was in the room in shock. He made his way over to his shell-shocked teammate and pushed him gently aside and looked in.

  
“Oh shit.”

  
A young and beautiful woman lay in a glass casket in the middle of the room.

  
Alec carefully walked over to the glass coffin, his mind immediately jumping to the old Earth fairy tale of Snow White and looked upon her.

  
She must be dead, he thought. She lay so perfectly still and there was no rise and fall to her chest. Her lashes did not so much as flicker. Yet, there was still a suppleness to her flesh. No sign of decay. Had they just killed her? Poison perhaps, for there were no obvious signs of bruising or trauma immediately noticeable the young woman.

  
“Shit.” Alec swore under his breath. So young, too young to have died like this. He thought of his own children and shook his head. How was he going to tell her parents when he found them?

  
He saw a flicker of light under his palm where he had rested it against the side of the coffin and lifted his hand up. Vital signs? He glanced sharply up at the woman. Was she alive after all? He looked at the small monitor on the side of her resting place and it was confirmed that this girl was alive, but in some form of stasis perhaps. Medically induced coma? No, there were no breathing signs. She looked dead, but from the vitals provided on her coffin was not.

  
A team member, the one who opened the door breathed out in a slight panic, “What the Hell is going on sir?”

  
Alec, with his gaze still on the woman, said “I’m not sure, but we’re going to find out. Check all the rooms for datapads or anything that’ll shed some light on this mess.” The team member nodded quickly and motioned the others to follow him out of the room.

  
Alec investigated around the casket, finding the casket was attached to an old power generator. While old, it held a lot of juice. Enough to sustain life? Inconclusive. Maybe if he had his tech… he would have to check that possibility out later.

  
Another team member approached his side and stared down at the woman, in wither shock or awe he could not say. “I found this…” she said dazedly, “looks like transfer papers. From a group called Cerberus?” Alec nodded his thanks.

  
“Get an evac team here now. We need to extract this woman, but I don’t want a scratch on that case. Understood?” He turned to the woman who appeared not to hear him. He snapped his fingers in her face and she blinked rapidly as if coming out of a trance. “Now, soldier.” He turned away from her as the solider hurriedly moved away and began speaking into her comm unit.

  
Alec laid his hand gently on the glass. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna get you out of here. That’s a promise.”


	2. Science, Not True Love's Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria meets the Ryder family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this chapter so the family dynamics can start showing. I tried keeping this one in the Ryder timeline as best as I could and hopefully I didn't stray from it. 
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***
> 
> Quick sidenote, I used my character's name in the beginning because it's annoying to keep writing the Chosen. Peace!

_A few months later…_

Alec and Ellen Ryder stood over Victoria. After her arrival at Ellen’s lab on the Citadel, they had studied her casket and found out she was in a hypothermic stasis that had stopped the degeneration of her body. It turned out that she was from Earth but had been kidnapped and frozen by a group of fanatics called the Hounds of Hades. They had fallen in love with the young woman and decided to “conserve” her and protect her for eternity. That was until the authorities of her time found her after her family had sent a man hunt looking for her. While the perpetrators received life sentences for their unlawful experimentation, there was nothing left to be done. The group had destroyed all their research and materials to prevent them reversing the “Deathless Sleep”. Victoria’s family mourned. They never moved on. They spent their lives watching their beloved family member remain unchanged as they withered away. Their grief wasted them, and all perished in untimely deaths. Some say they died early due to broken hearts, but no record was kept on her family. With no one to look after Victoria, she seemingly disappeared from her home town. However, she was secretly taken to a government facility where they studied how it was she was so well-preserved. They attempted to replicate the science, but before they could unlock the secrets to her tomb, Victoria was stolen from the government lab by a wealthy man in Europe who had a taste for the bizarre and for young women. She passed from rich hand to rich hand, yet never stirred nor aged. Somewhere along the line both Snow White and the most beautiful woman on Earth stuck, yet never was her name mentioned. When first contact was made, Victoria’s owner was enlisted to help aid in the First Contact War. He could not leave her behind however and stowed her in the ship he was given. When the ship was captured in turian airspace, the young man was executed and all cargo on the ship was taken for examination. Victoria’s stasis casket went undetected until a rogue turian, fed up with war and wanting to start over on Omega raided the turian bases cargo warehouse and happened upon the deceased owner’s cargo. Not looking for anything in particular he loaded everything he could onto his stolen vessel, including Victoria unbeknownst to him, and made his getaway to Omega.  Not long after reaching Omega, the turian was killed himself, and all the stolen cargo was, in turn, stolen. That was when Victoria was discovered. An asari, seeing a valuable business opportunity, kept Victoria safe so she could make some credits from this human. Because humans were so exotic, Victoria was sold at a very high price. Again, she was passed around from rich hand to rich hand, until stolen by human bandits, as humans were now infiltrating the other systems, and sold in an auction to a remote warehouse where Alec had found her. She now found herself unknowingly in the care of the Ryder clan who were attempting to figure out how to release her from her stasis without killing her.

Ellen flipped through Victoria’s biography, where it referred to the young woman as the Chosen, again and sighed. “This poor girl will have a hard time coping Alec, is it wise to wake her up? Wouldn’t it be kinder to keep her unaware of her fate?”

Alec was scanning his omnitool and casually shrugged, “I’m not sure. I would want to know what cards I held, regardless of the outcome. We don’t know what she’ll think when we get her out,” he paused, “well, if we get her out. Those ancient bastards did some sci-fi crap on this girl and I can’t figure out what the Hell they did.” Alec huffed in frustration.

Ellen raised a brow at him. “Ancient? Alec it was 162 years ago. Hardly ancient.”

Alec sighed himself, “You really want to get into semantics? Besides, what we should be focusing on is getting this girl out of there. We get her out of here, that’ll be a real breakthrough. WE get her out, that means we can put other people back in. Easy.”

Ellen walked over and rubbed his shoulder and laughed quietly, “Easy was programming biotic implants. Easy is engineering artificial intelligence. Not so easy, preserving, or in this case, defrosting people? This won’t be simple Alec.”

Both looked at the mass of processers, computing and processing information that would one day, Alec hoped, allow humans to possess the edge over other aliens they so desperately needed.

Alec, looking grim, said, “Just leave it to me.”

_Days later._

The Ryder twins trooped up to their mother’s lab after their first family dinner in months, school and their parent's work had kept them separated for awhile. Both of their parents, while visibly on edge about their mother’s progressively worse illness, hid it by saying they had a breakthrough they wanted to share with the twins. The Ryder twins, Sara and Scott, were nervous, but they knew they had to go as this was the first time their mother looked happy in a while. And now that they were getting older, 17 and almost legally adults, they were being allowed further into their parent’s enigmatic lives. They looked at each other and had a silent conversation with each other. What was going on and did this have anything to do with their mom’s illness?

Ellen paused in front of the doors to her lab. She turned and faced them, hesitation clear on her face. “Ok you two. This… this will come as a shock. I want to let you know right now, that we did not do this, and we are about to make history.”

The twins looked at each other quickly in slight alarm. Ellen stepped aside to let them pass.

They walked into their mom’s lab and gasped simultaneously.

“What did you two do?!”

Alec walked towards them with his hands up in a placating way, “Now your mother just said…”

Scott groaned and dramatically put a hand on his forehead, “You’re going all Frankenstein up in here, aren’t you?” Sara looked at her parents in apprehension at this. Ellen looked ready to laugh and Alec just sighed.

“No Scott, we are not going Frankenstein… I’m not even sure what that means, but no. Cliff notes? This young woman was stolen from her family in the year 2018 and put into a sort of stasis in a test called the Snow White theory according to the biography we found on her. She made her way to Omega through human trafficking and I got her back on that business trip I told you all I had. Your mom and I think we found a way to get her out of her stasis safely using some of my, as you so eloquently put it, AI tech. We reverse the process there may even be a way to replicate this science too. Questions?”

Sara raised her hand, “So, aside from more famous Ryder family secrets, no freaky human experiments went on in here? That’s kind of a relief and a little disappointing. I mean, mom you have a lab! A pretty big lab too. Dad, you have AI tech. Evil genius music would be playing if this was one of those old vids.” Scott nodded along. Ellen and Alec just looked at each other. Why were their children so odd?

Scott gazed at the young woman and said in a soft voice, “She sure is pretty. I get the Snow White thing I guess.” Sara smacked his arm. “Hey, what was that for!?” Sara looked at him in bewilderment. “You can’t just stare at her! That’s rude! How would you like it if people just ogled you like some caged pyjak? She’s a person not an exhibition.” Scott looked slightly embarrassed but shrugged.

Ellen gave a slight cough, “At any rate, we brought you two here so that when we wake her, she’ll have a couple faces that look a lot friendlier than your father, no offense Alec.” Alec just looked at his wife with faintly amused exasperation. “You kids ready?”

Both Sara and Scott nodded excitedly. It wasn’t often they were let into their mother’s experimentations or their father’s dreamchild concept of AI and there was no way they would miss this.

Alec began working on a large monitor that seemed to be hooked to up to a large generator connected to the glass casket, “Ok, let’s start reversing the hypothermic processes and open her up.”

“Beginning blood flow increase… body temperature rising… metabolic rate rising,” the computer intoned.

Suddenly a mist spread around the young woman and encapsulated her, not allowing them to see her at all. They all waited with baited breath.

A loud muted gasp sounded from within the glass pod and as the glass lid opened the young woman shot up and gasped for breath. Ellen and Alec rushed to her side as Scott and Sara gaped in wonderment as the computer said, “Cryopreservation 100% reversed.”

This really was a breakthrough.

_A different perspective._

What seemed like almost a second to the next, Victoria was looking up at a group of strangers in a dim building the next she was sitting up and gasping for breath while looking at completely new strangers. While she hadn’t gotten a chance to look around her, she was sure she was not in the same place. Here it was bright where the other place was dim. Here it smelled sterile where there it smelled like rusted metal. Why did her lungs hurt? Where was she? Where was her family? Thoughts flitted around in her head as she tried desperately to get her bearings.

She looked around wildly as a man pressed what she assumed to be an oxygen mask onto her face, but she pushed it away. She tried to speak, but her vocal cords felt dry. Her body, she realized, felt frozen. Only her eyes really seemed to be working as she wildly looked around at the people surrounding her.

One woman, kind, but tired looking approached her carefully, as if she was some frightened deer. “Shh.” She said. “I know this is a lot to take in, but you are safe. Let me get you some water. Maybe that might help with your speech?” She offered Victoria the glass of water that was on a table nearby.

She cautiously took the water and sipped it. Not taking her eyes off the others. The older man seemed stern, but relatively harmless. The two others seemed around her age and seemed shocked just looking at her. She looked around and noted the whole place was clean, but minimalistic. Almost hospital-like, but there was something off…

“Where am I?” Victoria softly rasped.

The older man replied, “In my wife, Ellen Ryder’s lab. I’m Alec. Those two gawking in the back are our kids Scott and Sara.” The two twins, it looked like, waved dazedly. Victoria just looked at them warily. “Why am I here? Where’s my family. I’ve been gone too long, they’ll be worried for me.” The Ryder family nervously looked around. It was hard to look into her face and see her beautiful eyes fill with tears.

The woman, Ellen, timidly approached Victoria and laid a hand on her shoulder, “There will be time for questions. Right now, I need to take some medical scans and get you a little food. While we do that, I’ll answer all your questions… but,” she paused and truly looked at Victoria pityingly, “you will not like the answers.”

 

_A few hours later._

After Victoria had introduced herself and completed all the medical scans the family left her to process hers and her family’s fate. Her family was gone. They lived their lives without her and she would never see them again. A part of her wanted to follow them into death. She never even got to say goodbye. For the first time in her young life, relatively speaking, she felt a spike of hatred in her heart. The group that had kidnapped her, these hounds, were monsters. They stole her way from her life and now she had to find a way to keep living. But would she? Could she find a way to keep going? This place, the future, was no place for her. She couldn’t handle this new life. It wasn’t for her.

Victoria was so lost in her thoughts, she did not hear the door open. Nor did she see the Ryder twins come into the room. They shuffled awkwardly in, embarrassed by the tears that streamed down Victoria’s face. Emotions, thanks to their dad, were not their strongest suit. Sara, the braver one, made a soft noise so Victoria would know they were there. She looked at Sara, but her gaze flitted back to the floor, as if she was too tired to keep her eyes up.

“Sooo…” Sara began. Scott slapped a hand to his forehead and Sara mouthed an angry _what_ to him. Victoria didn’t seem to notice the silent and quick argument between the twins. She found herself becoming consumed by her thoughts. Scott sensing this started where Sara left off. “So. Victoria. Um, if you want, we can take you back to our place? It’s not much, but at least it’s away. From here, I mean.No one one wants to stay in a boring lab.”

Victoria found her voice, “What would be the point? I won’t be here much longer at any rate. Does it matter where I end go right now?”

Sara replied in concern, “You’re not thinking what I hope you’re not thinking are you? You know, we can’t let you hurt yourself, right?”

Victoria again stared at her, but with a little defensiveness sneaking into her eyes. “Why do you care? You don’t even know me.”

Scott considered her for a moment. “Well what would be the point of you killing yourself? You’re here anyway. Why not make the best of it?” He asked and then as if he did not think she would reply added quietly, “At least you still have your looks?”

Victoria answered sharply, “MY looks are what got me here in the first place. Some jerks thought I was so beautiful they ripped me away from my family who died watching me sleep. And then I was passed around like a piece of meat. My looks are the least of my concerns.”

Sara glared at her brother who at least had the grace to look a little sheepish quickly said, “What my idiot little brother meant to say was that we’re not saying this won’t be hard Victoria. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through. But, we’re here for you now. I know, it isn’t the same, but if you wanted to give it a shot, well, this place can be pretty interesting and fulfilling. You may even surprise yourself.”

Victoria looked down.

The twins both looked at each other and seemed to think that she needed a bit more time and turned around to leave when a soft voice stopped them.

“Tori.”

Sara turned around quickly. “What?”

Victoria looked up from where she had been examining the floor and cleared her throat and repeated herself. “Tori. Call me Tori.”

Scott and Sara smiled widely and a tiny smile graced Victoria’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	3. All Fairy Tale Stories End...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria's brief time with her new family in their world. But like so much in her life, nothing lasts forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, we need to start rolling through these, because if I had it my way, I would do a full regurgitation of the Mass Effect gameplay... but that would take too long! I think we'll have like two or so more chapters that follow one right after the other, but after that it'll jump from each important plot point to fulfill my fantasies.... ok that got creepy. Let's do this!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_2183._

Victoria was finally adjusting to her new life. What once seemed impossible, now she did with ease. Live. She was now officially 19 and living her life to the fullest, well as best as she could at any rate. Apparently, Earth officials had declared her dead and getting proper documentation for a technically 180 plus year old took some time and was rather difficult. Despite this, she kept herself busy and acted like any other teen.

She found she had quite a flair for futuristic fashion that even took the family by surprise for how fashion forward it was. Sniffing in disdain for the minimalistic pants and tops most human civilians favored, she played with holographic prints and strayed far away from pants in general. Victoria preferred dresses and skirts. While the music of the time was interesting, Victoria’s tastes still lay in the early 21st century. One could call her old-fashioned, but she liked to think she was just vintage.

Another new development was her relationship with the Ryder twins. What had started out as a tepid friendship blossomed into a tight-knit trio. Where they went, she would go, which included going to school with them and immersing herself into their lives. They updated her on all the new developments of the human race and their place among the other alien races, and Victoria adapted. The group found themselves in endless trouble, but it only brought them closer. So close, Scott even remarked that Victoria was the younger sibling that helped balance the twins out. Softer spoken, but still able to keep up with the rambunctious Ryders. Responsible, but quirky enough that she blended in with her eccentric new family. Victoria really had found herself a new family and she loved spending time with them. Eventually though, it wasn't enough to satisfy her.

She found herself yearning for more responsibility. Something to give her purpose, or at least let her spread her wings. When the twins left to go off to their respective jobs, Victoria was left alone. On a whim, while visiting Alec's office, she asked if their was anything he needed help with. Mostly to get her off his back, he sent her on her way to deliver various papers and important documents that he had been putting off. It turned out she had quite the affinity for errand running, or as Sara liked to joke, “pigeon carrying”. Still, she took her responsibilities seriously and spent a majority of her time running around Citadel offices after that one experience with Ryder datapads, distributing them much faster to necessary offices than the family normally could have gotten them out. Both Ryder twins were immensely thankful as paperwork bored them out of their minds, and therefore slacked off quite a bit which backlogged them. This prevented them from accessing resources, both financial and equipment, for their individual jobs, either relays or research expeditions. Ellen and Alec did not use Victoria as much as she begged them to, though would appease her and send her every so often to offices to deal with people they didn’t always like. Victoria loved it. Producing results from hard to deal with people for her family was rewarding. Plus, meeting these new alien cultures was endlessly fascinating for her and she was keen to engage with the many new people she met.

In turn, it seemed as though she too captivated the many different races she encountered. Once, when she went into a heavily turian-centric office, one C-Sec officer nearly dropped his weapon and managed to fire it simultaneously. Luckily the bullet hit an unsuspecting light and the worst damage was to the turian’s pride. The twins, home for a quick visit, found the whole situation immensely funny and encouraged Victoria to hit on more turians and see if any other appliances would take a hit. Victoria just shook her head in exasperation. “I’m sure his weapon malfunctioned.”

Scott snickered and said under his breath, “Heh… weapon malfunction…”, while Sara scoffed. “Tori, you’re hot. Use it! You could turn a krogan’s head.”

Victoria looked mildly repelled and Scott, after finishing laughing at his private dirty joke, looked thoughtful and said, “You know, that’s not actually untrue. Did you see that asari in the Presidium lobby? I’ve never seen one turn that blue, which is saying something. I dated an asari one time, you remember her? One time we were in my room and I was really getting in there…”

Sara slapped a hand over his mouth. “We get it Scott, you’re experienced. Ick…” Sara made a face of annoyance and fondness. Scott moved her hand off and laughed. “Anyway, my point is, asari don’t blush easy. She turned purple Tori. You’re like catnip for aliens.”

Victoria laughed herself. “Well, it doesn’t matter whether or not they’re attracted to me. I’m not really looking for anything right now. Unlike you, Scott, I don’t just stand around all day and look at a relay and call it working. I have actual work to do.”

Sara cackled, “Yeah little bro, we have important shit to get done.”

Victoria and Sara high-fived without even looking at each other.

Scott pouted, “Well, it’s not my fault they don’t give me more interesting jobs. You think I like just staring at a relay for the fun of it? I’d give anything to get out there and see it all.”

The three of them seemed to get lost in thought for a moment until a small bang brought them out of their reverie. A turian was shaking himself out of a seeming stupor after just running until a wall. His female turian friend was shaking him and was clearly irritated. “Spirits! Humans aren’t that new to the Citadel! You’ve never seen a human before?”

The male replied dazedly, “That girl… I’ve never seen such black fringe before...”

The female, clearly getting annoyed replied, “It’s called hair, moron. Shake it off, they’re looking over here.”

When he saw the trio staring at him in shock his mandibles flared in panic and he sprinted away from them, leaving his friend to follow agitatedly. Both twins looked at Victoria and doubled up with mirth. Victoria was beet-red.

Sara wiped her eyes as tears of amusement rolled out of her eyes, “Oh my God! That was awesome! Did you see his face?! I’ve never seen a turian look so scared!”

Scott clapped Victoria’s back. “Man, you’ve managed to make the most uptight alien race lose their shit twice now. What kind of pheromones are you packing and how can we harness it? No, really, that’s a gift!”

Victoria sighed warily, “I wish I wasn’t some kind of sideshow. I mean, I guess it’s kind of flattering, but this is really awkward.”

Sara, feeling a bit bad for her sister, said gently, “Hey. Don’t feel too bad. I’d take it as a huge compliment. Plus, this is a good sign, right? It means turian and human relations are improving! If turians have the hots for you, that means we must be doing something right.”

Victoria scoffed, “One small step for man and all that jazz?”

Scott wrapped an arm around her shoulder and laughed, “Exactly! Maybe we can make you into a peace bride for the rest of the galaxy!” Victoria smacked his bicep. “Ow! Never mind, violence is specifically prohibited in peace bride duties!” Sara and Victoria laughed.

“Maybe you could be the Ryder ambassador to the rest of the Citadel.” Sara thought aloud. Victoria looked at Sara questioningly and Sara continued, “Well, think about it, this is all still new territory. These higher ups still need dad, but he, and for that matter we, don’t know the first thing about maintaining good relations with people. But it doesn’t matter where you go, everyone seems to like you. Before you argue, think about it logically. Humans don’t have the best standing with the other races. You never get hassled like the rest of us. You can maneuver within those people far easier than any of us can. Why else do mom and dad send you around this clusterfuck they call civilization? Every office they send you to are the ones where they’re hated. You go, and you come back with way more progress than our parents could ever hope for. If you aren’t the perfect fit to be our ambassador I don’t know who else would be.” Sara finished with an air of finality and even Scott looked thoroughly convinced.

Victoria, however, was hesitant. Gentle ribbing about her looks she could handle, but this was something else. The implication here was that her looks got her whatever she wanted. It hurt. She thought she made progress because of her other qualities, namely her mind and work ethic.

Scott seemed to understand her silence and spoke up. “Tori. I know you think Sara and I think you get by on just your looks, but we don’t. Sara” and here he gave Sara a meaningful look, “forgot to mention how damn clever you are. Who else knows how to handle all that boring ass paperwork? Who else knows how to play these high up politicians like a pro? Sara and I don’t know how to represent dad, and he wouldn’t be anywhere without your help. Mom too. You’ve helped get her the best care the Citadel has to offer after all dad’s resources dried up. You are the best fit for our family.”

Victoria sniffled, partly for dramatic effect and with true emotion, “Scott, that’s the sweetest thing someone’s ever said to me… even though the job description is for a hyped up secretary!” They all laughed, and the tension that had built was slightly eased. Sara wrapped her arm around Victoria’s waist. “Look Tori, once we tell dad our plan, he’ll have to say yes. He may not be a family man, but he is a practical guy. What do you say?”

Victoria looked at both the twins and nodded her head. “Yeah. Yeah I can do it.”

They all hugged each other tight and laughed with delight.

“…how much is the pay though?”

_The beginning of 2184._

Victoria had been through some serious shit this past year. She was there when Alec Ryder was dishonorably discharged from the Alliance, more ceremonial than anything as he still had a presence in the Citadel due to his role as military attaché for so long. She was there to witness both Ryder sibling’s arrival back home, both chased out of their respective jobs due to their father’s disgrace. Both held their head’s high, but Victoria saw through their façades. She saw Sara’s obvious sorrow, her need to learn more about Protheans put on hiatus. She felt Scott’s anger, his frustration that he could no longer serve and protect the relay he had been tasked with. On top of that, Victoria was there in the hospital the day Ellen Ryder passed away. In a way, it was cathartic to be apart of her adopted family’s grief. A morbid part of what all families go through at some point, a goodbye she never got to give her own mother.

It was…heartbreaking to watch. Not only because she cared deeply for Ellen, or because the devastation the twins were going through was palpable. What made it all worse was Alec. Alec had spent so much time away from his wife, one day she just slipped away and now he was left grasping for extra time he no longer had.

After everything was said and done, they returned to the Ryder home and the air in the house was stale. There was life here, but one wouldn’t even be able to tell if they walked in at the moment. The matriarch of the family took the life energy of the house with her. The Ryder family were like ghosts within their own fortress.

Victoria sat in the living room of the house, looking at the sparse family pictures they had and wondered. Wondered how the family would cope when they left this galaxy for good. The Andromeda Initiative was scheduled to leave in a year.

The Ryder family, including Victoria, had signed up in hopes of a fresh start. Alec would be what they called a Pathfinder for the humans. Both the siblings were part of the Pathfinder’s team, and Victoria was given a token role of ambassador for the Ryder family, what was left now at any rate.

When the trio had first approached Alec about their idea of making Tori the family ambassador, they had been at the hospital by Ellen’s side. As they explained to him their thought process, Alec held Ellen’s hand and thoughtfully rubbed his thumb across her knuckles and gazed at his wife’s sleeping form as he processed. When they finished explaining their idea, he stood there for a few moments, before speaking.

“Well, at least one part of this family had to be a people person. I guess we got one now.”

Victoria felt her heart bloom. Even in the midst of his sorrow, Alec had finally recognized her as one of his own. And so, he gave his blessing to have her be the unofficial spokesperson for the Ryder family. It seemed that this role would even extend to the Pathfinder team, in a more official capacity even. Victoria felt it was just to help her feel included, as she was no fighter nor a scientist, but the gesture was highly appreciated.

 Now, Victoria sat and pondered. Did the family understand the implications of what they were really doing? It was one thing to want to run away from your pain, it was another thing to drop everything and never see anything of your life again. Victoria had no ties here; her life was with her new family. She had briefly visited her mother, father, and sister’s graves here on Earth, but she was left only feeling hollow. There was nothing for her here now. While not necessarily looking for a fresh start, she felt Andromeda would awaken feelings of wonder and awe in her that she did not feel here. Here, she was just left with reminders of the ugliness that lurked within people, human and not. For the Ryder clan, they would be leaving their mother behind. Were they ready to give that up so soon? While somewhat emotionally impeded, she didn’t truly think they would run to another galaxy to escape their grief.

What did she know? She would just be here from them as best as she could. If that meant leaving with them to start a new life, so be it. She was lucky enough to have been saved by caring, if awkward people. They were interested in seeing what was out there. Learning more for the sake of just knowing more. She could get behind intellectual curiosity. If a new galaxy is what the family needed, she would be right there with them.

_Mid-2184._

Victoria finished her last round of bullets and put her assault rifle down. She sighed heavily and rubbed both her arms. The target in front of her was littered with bullet holes, some of which had hit their mark and others… not so much.

While she would be in a more office-like role, Alec had made it clear that Victoria would also be on the front lines in case she was needed in moments such as first contact situations. However, if she could not defend herself, she would not be brought out of cryo until Ryder Sr. deemed it safe for her. She refused to be left behind while her family did the heavy lifting. She refused to miss out on tmore family experiences. And so, here she was at the shooting range in a private booth with her adopted siblings, trying to get a decent grasp on how to defend herself.

Victoria glanced at Sara and Scott. Both Ryder twins excelled in this arena. Both of their targets had a straight line of bullet holes and they were grinning from ear to ear at each other. As they high-fived, they looked over at Victoria and saw her dejected face.

Sara walked over and placed her hands on Victoria’s shoulders and positioned her into a stance she seemed to find suitable and nodded for Victoria to try again. Victoria breathed in slowly and exhaled as she took her shot.

She hit her mark dead center.

Victoria lit up as Sara laughed and hugged her round her shoulders. Sara took both of their ear muffs off as Victoria smiled in delight.

“See!” Sara exclaimed, “You’re not that bad! Keep this up and you won’t be deadweight! You’ll get to sit at the big kids table and everything!”

Victoria laughed, “Maybe I won’t get shot first thing stepping off the ship.”

Sara shook her shoulders and said, “That’s the spirit!”

Victoria laid her gun down and stretched. Sara balked slightly and said “Tori, the dress is cute and all, but does it have to be so short?”

Victoria looked down at herself with a small frown. “Look, I didn’t tell the quartermaster how long to make an armor dress. I said, ‘make an armored dress’ and this is what I got. It’s not my fault they made me a mini dress!” She flipped her hair with a playful air of pretentiousness.

They both laughed at that.

Scott finally walked over after putting his gun away. “Wish mom could’ve seen this. The Ryder family doing some real bonding.”

“She’d be so proud of you all.” Alec Ryder walked into the booth and looked at his kids. “Sara and Scott, that N7 training I showed you is really showing.” The twins seemed pleased with the praise from their usually stoic father. “Tori, you’re aim is getting better. You keep at it and you’ll really be an asset to the team.”

 Victoria nodded, acknowledging the significance of Alec’s praise.

“I won’t let you down. All of you. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I may or may not have a Pinterest board with outfits that inspire my character. I think I might post the pictures of the outfits that I'm picturing in my head... yeah...
> 
> http://theglamdive.tumblr.com/image/41987073181 : everyday work outfits
> 
> http://www.fetish-style.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/00150m.jpg : pretend that that's actually armor, yeah?
> 
> Keepin' it classy y'all! Don't judge me for just pasting the urls, we're not technologically savvy up in here!


	4. Awake, but Not Home Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the brief process of being put back into cryostasis and then awoken, the Ryder family arrives in Andromeda. Like all fairy-tale stories, it's a long journey to reach home and they certainly haven't gotten there yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news? New chapter! *confetti*  
> Bad news? This story feels like it'll never end. Oops!  
> I think I bit off more than I can chew...
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_2185._

The day had arrived. They were officially leaving the Milky Way and voyaging into unknown territory. Victoria felt vaguely nauseous. She was 21 years old now and embarking on the most historical trip of her life and in human history. She was excited, of course, but the thought of going into cryo again… it stirred repressed feelings she thought no longer plagued her. She thought back to a time where she insisted on sleeping in the living room of the Ryder household because the bed they had given her did nothing for her lingering paranoia. She thought she had gotten over this.

Now standing in a small ship that was taking them to the very impressive Hyperion, she was feeling… edgy. She rationalized to herself that at least she would be placed with her family. She wouldn’t be alone this time.

The Ryder family were talking quietly amongst themselves and she saw Sara gently wipe her eyes. Victoria was giving them a little space, so they could make peace with their departure. This was their last moments in the galaxy that held all memories of their mother. Her heart ached for her family.

But it was time to board now. She walked in with her family into the medbay and into a small private room where two doctors were waiting.

They smiled comfortingly when they saw Victoria.

“Don’t worry. You’re being placed with your family. No one will be separated throughout the entire trip,” one of the doctors, an asari, soothed. Evidently, they had read her personnel file. That was fine for Victoria who simply nodded her head in acknowledgement. It helped to know that the staff understood her concerns, it did help soothe a small part of her.

“We’ll give you all a moment while we prepare the stasis mechanisms,” the other doctor said.

The doctors left, and the family looked around at each other.

Alec cleared his throat, “Well, looks like we’ll see each other in 600 years…” he tapered off, seeming to be uncomfortable with this goodbye.

Scott frowned, “Good pep talk dad.”

Sara turned and hugged Victoria to her tightly, “We’re going to be ok Tori. Just breathe.”

Victoria nodded and let the breath she was unconsciously holding go. Scott hugged her tight when Sara let go, and then both twins embraced.

Victoria turned to Alec and smiled. “We hugging it out too?” Victoria said cheekily, more to try and cover up all the emotions there were welling up inside her.

Alec chuckled, seeing right through her, and hugged his adopted daughter, “We got this kiddo.”

Victoria nodded and wiped a tear that threatened to start a storm.

Both Sara and Scott gave their dad a quick hug, as the doctors walked back in. “We ready to begin the process?”

All three kids nodded as Alec gruffly said, “Let’s get this started.”

The doctors motioned for the family to take their respective cryo beds, and they all laid down and as the doctors moved around the room.

Victoria tried to breathe in and out slowly, memories from another life swimming inside her head.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, try not to snore while we’re sleeping? Beauty sleep for us is not an option,” Scott said loudly in the otherwise quiet room.

The family snickered, happy the tension had been broken.

“Wrong princess dumbass.” Victoria laughed. She would be forever grateful for her family. She spared a thought for her biological family and gave them a mental goodbye. She loved them dearly and the spot in her heart for them gave a small ache as she prepared to leave them and her former home forever.

“Beginning cryopreservation processes.” A computerized voice announced suddenly.

Victoria inhaled sharply, here we go again, she thought internally.

She glanced to her side and saw her family’s stasis pod’s doors close. Sara, who was next to her flashed her an encouraging smile and thumbs up, before she too was encapsulated.

The last thing Victoria thought of was the hope that everything would turn out all right for her family, they deserved this new beginning. As the pod closed in around her and the cryo gas surrounded her, she felt courage bloom in her chest, and then… knew no more.

_2819\. 634 years later._

Victoria felt awareness seeping back into herself. She took a gasping breath and sat upright, into the arms of the very same asari doctor who had put her into her cryostasis.

“Shh, it’s ok. Your're safe.” The asari doctor soothed.

Victoria chuckled hoarsely, “Deja vu…,” she shook her head trying to get her thoughts in order. She looked around. She knew she was up before her brother and sister, she and Alec agreed it would be funny for them to wake up to her. A little role reversal. But, if she were up, that meant Alec was up to.

She cleared her throat, “So, where’s Alec? I must be up for a reason.”

The doctor, who had been focused on a datapad said, “He’s being processed in the medbay just around the corner. You can go to him after I’ve checked your motor skills here.” Victoria nodded and the asari began her simple tests of checking her eyes and limb movements. This left Victoria with time to think. It felt like just moments ago that she was being put into cryo and now, here she was, over 600 years in the future. Present? Time was weird.

“Alright. Everything seems to be checking out. You can go on into the medbay now.” The asari said kindly.

Victoria hopped off her bed and replied, “Great! Thanks for your help Doctor…?” She had just realized she didn’t even have this woman’s name. She had just frozen and unfroze her and didn’t know her name. Victoria felt shame color her face as the doctor smiled kindly at her, “It’s Doctor Lexi T’Perro, and it was my pleasure Victoria.”

Victoria walked out of the cryogenics room and found Alec sitting on one of the beds of the medbay. He was hugging a mug of coffee to him and seemed lost in thought. Victoria felt a surge of happiness to see her guardian and walked over to him. Alec, seeming to sense her looked up and seemed pleased to see her, well as pleased as the stoic man could be.

“We made it!” Victoria exclaimed with a laugh. She hugged Alec to her in her enthusiasm.

“We sure did,” Alec gave her a small hug back.

“Are Scott and Sara being woken up as well?” Victoria questioned.

Alec merely turned her around and motioned for her to look up. Two pods had just been placed on the ground. As one was wheeled into the medbay, the other seemed to be being prepped to be opened.

“Think that one’s Sara, the one those doctors are swarming on.” Alec stated, “Let’s go and wait for her.”

Victoria beamed at Alec as a blonde woman approached them. Cora, Alec’s second-in-command, Victoria remembered. For such a young woman, she seemed unusually stoic, as though she were in a competition with the older Ryder. Cora nodded to her and said, “Good to see you again, Victoria.” Victoria nodded in return to her and she turned to Alec with a grim face, “Sir, Captain Dunn needed to see you on the bridge.”

Alec seemed conflicted with two desires, wanting to see his children again versus his feelings of duty. Victoria felt a pang of sympathy for him, but knew he needed to fulfill his obligations of being Pathfinder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right here with them. We’ll catch up when they’ve gotten their sea legs,” Victoria reassured her dad. Alec sighed in relief and clapped a hand on her shoulder in thanks. Both walked away, and Victoria made her way to Sara’s pod.  She couldn’t wait to see Sara’s face when she woke up! She was also curious to see what it was like being on the other side of waking someone up from their cryogenic sleep. She stood close to the pod that lay on the floor and waited. Slowly the pod filled with a mist and the top flipped open. Victoria held her breath. Sara lay prone in her bed, so still it scared Victoria. Why wasn’t she waking up?

Suddenly Sara’s eyes shot open and she sat up quicker than Victoria was expecting. Sara looked around, not really seeing anything, and smiled to herself. “We made it…” she whispered to herself, and Victoria felt herself smile. The wonder in Sara’s voice set her own flame of adventure on fire and Victoria stepped into Sara’s line of view and grinned at her.

“Hey there stranger!” Victoria smirked at her. Sara tried to get up to give her a hug and two technicians ran over to stop her. “Take it easy there!” One said, and Victoria laughed at the dejection on her sister’s face. It felt so good to be reunited with her family, now to go wake up Scott.

“You all get her in working condition, meet me in the medbay, when your legs start working slowpoke.” Victoria called over her shoulder as she walked away. Sara merely flipped her off.

Victoria walked over to Scott’s pod and laid her hand on it. Scott was going to be so pissed they opened Sara’s pod first. She remembered Scott arguing with their dad that he wanted to be opened before Sara, so he could finally be the older twin. Scott, evidently, lost that battle. A young man sitting next to her gave a slight cough. “Hey, so, you’re part of the Pathfinder team, right?” Victoria nodded. “Excellent. Liam Kosta, crisis team specialist.” Victoria smiled at him and stuck her hand out for his handshake.

“I remember now. Sorry Liam, we met so briefly last time, but yes, I do remember. Victoria Ryder, ambassador for the Pathfinder team, or more accurately for the Pathfinder themselves.” They both smiled at each other.

“Well, looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, yeah?” Liam questioned, clear interest in his tone. Victoria nodded hesitantly. Liam seemed nice enough, she just hoped he understood that she had a job to do. Plus, close quarter romances could be messy. There were just a multitude of reasons of why they could go wrong. She would have to work at a professional relationship with her crew mates, a scary thought considering the lack of professionalism she and Sara had. They would just have to try.

While she had been in conversation with Liam, she hadn’t realized that Sara was already sitting on one of the beds and was being examined by Doctor T’Perro. Sara seemed vaguely annoyed by the poking and prodding. Sara glanced over and noticed she was being watched by both Victoria and Liam, who gave them a friendly smile and wave. That’s when she overheard Dr. T’Perro say, “… he wants you all mission ready within the hour.” Both Sara and Victoria looked at each other in alarm.

Victoria checked her omni-tool, thankful it was working already, and scanned her messages. There at the top, ahead of the updates, was a message from the bridge to the medbay, calling for the Pathfinder team to meet their Pathfinder with the Captain of the Hyperion. Victoria tried to shake the nerves that were forming in her stomach. She told herself to stay calm, they probably just wanted to prepare the team for reaching the human’s home world, codename Habitat 7.

As Lexi gestured Sara to stand up, Victoria felt a strange trembling underneath her. A hush fell in the room as Sara quietly said, “I don’t like the sound of that.” Suddenly, the ship seemed to collide with a strong force that had everyone in the bay falling to the ground. Victoria cried out as Scott’s pod was forced along the floor at high-speed right at Sara. Before it could hit Sara and Lexi, gravity failed them, and everyone, including Scott’s pod, floated up into the air. It would have been comical, if not for the hysteria that seemed to grip everyone. Victoria stared at Sara in panic as she flailed in the air. She thanked whatever was out there that she had worn leggings instead of her usual dresses before going into cryo.

 Voices over the comms, demanding reports, and yelling from the others filled the air. “I’m almost inside!” sounded outside the door. Cora floated into the room and ordered, “Brace for a reset!”

Before anyone could even think of bracing themselves, they all fell back to the floor with a thud. Victoria rubbed her backside petulantly. Brace yourselves? Pfft, what did Cora want her to do? Grab her boobs for safety? She shook her head to clear her childish thoughts, this was no time for her inner monologue nonsense.

Sara and Cora finished their conversation as Alec’s voice sounded over the comms “This is the Pathfinder. Mission teams continue preparation. Cora. Ryders. Report to the bridge.” Victoria was just dusting herself off when a technician halted them. “Uh… we have a problem over here. It’s Scott Ryder.”

Both girls ran over to his pod. Victoria felt her heart beat faster. She grabbed Sara’s hand as Cora asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lexi and the technician fiddled with the pod as Sara asked, “Is our brother ok?” Victoria held her breath as Lexi replied, “Scott’s fine, his vitals are strong, but the revival procedure was interrupted.”

Victoria felt her shoulders sag in relief. She felt so thankful, she could kiss Lexi. As Sara and Lexi hashed out the details, Victoria laid her hand gently on Scott’s pod. While Scott would be fine, he would be trapped in here with no family for who knew how long. He would hate to miss out on anything, but there was nothing to be done. A hand fell on her shoulder, startling Victoria. It was Sara.

“Come on Tor,” Sara said in a low voice, “Scott’ll be fine. He’s in good hands.”

Victoria took a moment before responding, “I know. I just hope he’s not too pissed he’s missing out on all this adventure.”

Sara knew she was still upset, just as much as her, but they had to meet their dad and so put on a brave face for her younger sister. “Come on.” Sara grabbed her arm and steered her out of the medbay, right into an issue with a power surge that Sara handled quickly. Victoria watched her as she flitted about with her scanner and fixed a bad relay that threatened the cryopods. She wondered where all this hidden leadership had been as Sara set everyone back to maintaining the cryo bay. Even Cora seemed impressed by Sara as they walked into the tram and headed off to meet Alec.

Walking onto the bridge of the ship, the whole room was in pandemonium. People shouting at each other to get the sensors working and getting flight control back. Alec was arguing with Captain Dunn about whether or not to proceed to the humans appointed golden world as the small group approached them. The front window of the ship showed darkness and a strange energy cloud that Victoria had never seen before. It pulsated with power and it was obvious that this anomaly is what the ship hit and what had caused the chaos on the Hyperion. Victoria felt dread seep into her bones as she stared out the window.

“Solid ground is sounding pretty good right now…” Sara was finishing saying as Alec turned around sharply to look at the trio.

“Pretty good isn’t good enough.” Alec reprimanded Sara. Sara looked ashamed and responded with a solemn, “Yes sir.” Victoria looked between the two and sighed. This was probably the worst reunion to ever occur. Even in another galaxy and Alec couldn’t be happy to just see one of his kids. This was a tense situation, but what came first? Duty or family?

Victoria’s thoughts were interrupted as a copilot announced they were approaching where Habitat 7 was supposed to be located. As the planet came into view Victoria gasped in shock. The planet looked barren. Large storms covered the planet and it was gray. There was no way that the was the golden world they were promised. Alec pulled up the original scans of the world and as the projected planet’s hologram was pulled up, one could see that these were two very different worlds.

Sara ever the voice of optimism said, “We can’t give up now…” Victoria looked at her in disbelief but tried to gather some of the confidence her sister was emanating.

“Is there a way to determine the viability of the planet?” Victoria tepidly asked.

SAM promptly responded, “The energy from the phenomenon is damping our sensors. Planetary conditions are unknown.”

“Crap...” Victoria swore. The rest of the group, aside from Alec, seemed to agree with the sentiment.

Alec paused in thought. As he spoke at length about being lost at sea and finding a way home, Victoria felt like crying. All this way. All this way for a dream. Now this? No on said it would be a cake walk, but this was another level. Victoria was unsure if she was up to the task, but as Sara grasped her hand and squeezed it tight, Victoria swallowed her melancholy as Alec finished with an air of finality and commanded “Planet fall in 30.” Sara took a deep breath and turned to Victoria for a hug. They gripped each other tight, seeking comfort in this time of uncertainty.

“What did we get ourselves into Tori?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!
> 
> Outfit: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/47/19/05/471905843fea3d1eb9aafc4c6e8ae2e3.jpg


	5. Through the Looking Glass...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and what's left of her family reach Habitat 7. It's through the looking glass and this is already the wrong fairy tale, in more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I lied about the few chapters thing of verbatim retelling. But! It makes sense in my head and hey I did say this was gonna be a long-ass story. Plus, I love the beginning of this story so much, it has to be retold with my character to mesh everyone together and have it make sense for Victoria to be there. I ramble just as much as my character... Yes she is hysterical and goes off on tangents in her head, but that's pretty realistic. Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_20 minutes later._

Victoria shakily took in a breath and expelled it. She and Sara were nearly finished suiting up and ready to leave the locker room.

Sara tried to alleviate the tension with a quip, “Scott’s gonna hate that he missed this…”, before Victoria could reply Cora cut in with an earnest, “Are all the Ryders adrenaline junkies?”

Victoria laughed, “Yeah kind of. Sara and Scott are always competitive though. Sara beat Scott out into the world by one minute and has been lording it over him ever since.” Cora laughed quietly at that.

Sara shrugged unrepentantly, “I couldn’t wait to get started.”

Cora replied, “Well… don’t worry. I’m sure Scott will pull through.”

Sara sighed, “When he does, he’s gonna want stories.”

Victoria hugged her sister around the middle.

“So, let’s get out there and find him some.”

They finished getting ready quickly after that. They grabbed helmets and a weapon, which Victoria was very hesitant to take. SAM assured her that it was just a precaution and Victoria knew it was better to be safe than sorry. Victoria skimmed through some datapads that were strewn about the room, refreshing herself on first contact protocols. She briefly wondered if a hostage situation lay in her future. While it wasn’t common knowledge, even to the Pathfinder team, Alec and she had designed a system where if a hostage was necessary she would be the one to be taken rather than the Pathfinder themselves. It made sense in that, they were both equals to each other and held the same amount of leverage. The differences were obvious of course, where she was a more passive facet of the team, the Pathfinder was the leader and she was an easier sacrifice. If both were killed, the second-in-command, would take over. It was a good system, one that hopefully would never be necessary.

After a brief reintroduction to Fisher, Kirkland, Greer, and the good luck rock, everyone headed out to the hanger bay. It was a brief walk, but Victoria felt like she was walking to her doom. She wasn’t a fighter, she was a diplomat! Not even that, she was a hyped up secretary. How had everything spiraled into this? She looked around at her teammates and felt fairly ridicules. She was… very petite, but she felt like a child amongst her teammates. Even Sara, her beloved sister who would never hurt a fly, looked intimidating. They dwarfed her 5’0 figure and she was increasingly aware of how much of a liability she could be. After a 600+ year nap and Victoria prayed muscle memory would take over if she needed to handle her gun. Like riding a bike, she dazedly thought. Except she didn’t know how to ride a bike… Victoria shook her head slightly. She was getting hysterical and she needed to get a grip on herself, she was here with her family and she had promised to not let them down.

They walked out to the shuttles and approached Dr. Harry Carlyle, a family friend, who was packing supplies onto a nearby shuttle. Victoria felt a small blossom of relief bloom in her chest. Having a medic on standby was reassuring, despite Cora’s question of him accompanying the team.

 Harry replied calmly, however, and said, “Pathfinder wants a medic on hand…”, he gave a pause as Victoria lowly said, “I second that motion.” Harry smiled at her and continued, “And, if that’s home down there, I’m happy to knock on the door.”

Sara laughed, “Got a quote ready?” She deepened her voice, “’One small step…’”

Victoria laughed as Harry sarcastically replied, “I’m pretty sure your dad will handle that honor.”

They were quieted as Alec approached from behind and told them they would be leaving in 5 minutes.

Cora, ever with the questions, asked, “Sir, we broke out the weapons as requested. Anything we should know about?” Victoria just looked at her. Hellscape planet and Cora’s questioning guns? She nearly snarked at her but held back. She was a tactician, dammit. Channel the Dalai Lama, she sternly told herself.

Alec, not nearly as annoyed as his adopted daughter, responded diplomatically, “Seemed prudent, given the situation. We’ll be shorthanded with Scott out.” Victoria felt her stomach drop and saw Sara’s face at the mention of Scott. Alec approached his daughters, a strained look on his face. “I heard what happened. Your brother’s strong. He’ll make it.”

Sara sniffed and gathered up a strained bit of humor, her favored piece of armor, and said, “We bet on whose boots would hit the ground first… this isn’t how I wanted to win.”

Alec chuckled, “Knowing Scott, he’ll want to go double or nothing on who climbs the tallest mountain.” He placed gentle hands on both Sara and Victoria’s shoulders. “Don’t let it get you down. I need you sharp. Both of you.”

They both nodded, and Victoria solemnly said, “We understand.”

Alec looked like he was going to walk away and then decided not to. “Your mom would’ve been proud…” he quietly said, “of all three of you.” He stalked off into the entrance of the shuttle, clearly eager to be away from any more emotional outbursts. Which was probably a good thing, because Victoria could feel the tears welling up. Alec turned around after composing himself and delivered another rousing Ryder speech. Victoria quietly wondered if there was inspirational music actually playing or if it was all in her head. Either way, she felt her spirit being uplifted as Alec concluded with a “We only get one chance to be first. So, let’s go make history.” He walked into his respective shuttle and Cora followed.

Victoria had no idea what to say to sum up her feelings, but Liam took care of that with an awed exclamation of “Fuck yeah. Been waiting for 600 years for this.” He walked into their shuttle and gave Sara’s shoulder a playful punch. Sara and Victoria both glanced at each other with big grins on their face and raced into the shuttle after Liam. Victoria felt like she could take on the world.

As they settled into their shuttle and took off, Victoria gave a small wave to the people milling about the hanger bay. They took off into space and glided among the strange energy clouds as Victoria and her team put their helmets on. Victoria fiddled with it and hoped it stayed on through this journey. Realistically, she knew it would, but random intrusive thoughts kept pervading her mind. While slightly terrified, Victoria, looking out her window, was humbled at the immensity of the universe before her. How lucky was she to be one of the first humans to take this all in? Even the energy cloud was a wonder to behold. It was outstandingly breathtaking, and she had no way to properly express herself. Once again Liam succinctly summed up her feelings.

“Wow. Would you look at that?” Liam breathed out.

Sara, equally overcome, said, “Whatever it is, stopped the Hyperion in its tracks.”

Victoria looked at her sister and asked, “It’s not sentient… is it?”

SAM replied, “It appears to be an unstable mass of dark energy.”

Victoria rolled her eyes, “Well yeah, obviously.”

Alec’s voice sounded over the comms, “Stay clear of it.”

Sara rhetorically replied, “No! I wanted to go pet it…” just as the shuttle started to jerk around with what Fisher called “chop”. SAM detected gravity anomalies as Victoria darkly said to Sara, “ _Castigos_! For talking back to our dad!” Fisher and Kirkland, however, got control back of the shuttle and got them to cruising speeds. Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. Sara pushed her shoulder gently and told her to lighten up. Victoria pushed her back, if a bit harder.

“So, Ryder,” Liam started, and as both Victoria and Sara looked at him, he amended, “Sara. We didn’t have a chance to meet back in the Milky Way. Name’s Liam Kosta, security and response specialist.”

Sara smiled at him from under her helmet, “Good to meet you Liam.”

“It’s hard to believe we’re finally doing this.” Liam said.

Victoria snorted, “Beats reading the brochures.”

They were cut off from their conversation as Fisher announced that they were close to the planet. Victoria smiled/grimaced at Sara. Sara gave her a thumbs up, too nervous to speak. This was what they had trained for. But it was one thing to read about it, another to actually put it into practice. Again, there was a brief moment of panic from Fisher as the controls fought him, but the moment passed, and they broke through the planet’s atmosphere and were greeted with a bizarre sight.

 Not only was the planet a seeming barren wasteland, the mountains were “floating” as Liam so eloquently put it. SAM warned that the oxygen levels were below human requirements which would necessitate the continued use of their helmets. Victoria briefly bemoaned that fact, as she had artfully braided her long black hair into a beautiful braided bun, but there was nothing to be done about it.

That thought was blown out of her head as a huge alien structure loomed in the distance. Victoria realized that she would be needed on this mission to help establish diplomatic relations between the humans and the alien race on this planet. She fought down the surge of panic that surged up within her. Now was the time to see if she could hang with the big boys or if she was to be sidelined until everything settled. She took a steadying breath and rationalized to herself that she would follow her father’s lead. He was experienced with first contact situations and this was a good opportunity to learn the ropes from a professional. This one would go right if Victoria had her way.

Liam voiced the concern that was on everyone’s mind, “What if they’re not friendly?” he asked hesitantly.

“We stick to contact protocol.” Victoria said with an authority she didn’t really feel, “No use of deadly force unless hostile force is clear.”

“The ambassador’s right.” Alec said over the comms, “We’ve got one chance for this to go right. We’re not going to screw this up, but we’re on the right track if we keep that attitude.” Victoria could hear the shimmer of pride in his voice and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for pleasing her father.

There was no more time for self-congratulation as the ionization levels suddenly spiked and the shuttles hit a lightning storm. Their shuttle gave an almighty quake as Victoria reached up to grab at a safety rope as the side panel was ripped off. Liam was thrown from the inside and as Victoria screamed his name in panic and Sara tried to reach out for him, the shuttle chucked both Sara and Liam out.

“SARA! NO!” Victoria yelled. She watched as Sara plummeted and disappeared amongst the dark clouds. No other thoughts were in her head as she jumped out right after her. She tried to focus as her eyes tried to reflexively close themselves to blot out the sheer terror of free-falling. Bits of mountain streamed past her as she plunged ever lower. She could hear Sara screaming somewhere below her and distantly wondered where Liam was. Her body seemed to be doing flips and all sorts of gymnastics of its own accord and Victoria tried to right herself for the second time that day. Stupid gravity.

“Jump jets engaging.” SAM’s voice rang in her helmet.

“Fucking shit! Get them working NOW!” Victoria shrieked.

She felt her body jerk as the jets worked against gravity. Her throat felt raw from her own screams that had been forcing their way out of her throat. She landed with a thud on the rocky ground and rolled onto her back, pressing her hands tightly to the ground, as if she would be swept away again, and stared up at the sky, panting hard. She was alive! “Fuck…” She swore aloud. She sat up slowly and ran her arms along her body, checking to see if she was in one piece. Satisfied that she was still put together she got up and looked around for Sara.

“Sara?” Victoria called out. “Sara are you alright?” She feared for her sister as the silence stretched. Her heart gave a twist as she wondered if she was stranded.

“SAM? Any sign of Sara?” She waited a moment. “SAM?!” Still no answer. Fear gripped her heart, but before she could be overcome, she heard Liam asking for SAM as well. “Liam!” She cried out.

A slight scuffling was heard and suddenly Liam came around the corner of a small hill that had been blocking her view. She rushed over, overcome with relief at not being alone, and gave him a hug. “Shit. I thought I was on my own…” She breathed out.

He grimaced, “No chance of leaving me behind. You find Sara?”

Victoria shook her head. “No, but we need to regroup. See where everyone else is.”

Liam nodded and was about to say something when they heard a voice from below calling for Victoria, SAM, for anyone to respond. Liam and Victoria didn’t even need to say word before they looked below the cliff ledge and saw Sara. They both jumped down, engaging their jump jets, as Liam called out for Sara to save her breath. Sara rushed at Victoria and they gave each other a bone crushing hug. Sara, still holding Victoria tightly asked if there were any other survivors. They parted as Liam replied that he hadn’t seen anyone else.

Victoria choked out, “Sara… there’s no way this home…”

Sara looked at her sadly and nodded her agreement. They looked out at the desolate land before them. Lighting cracked ominously in the distance and everything was silent apart from the booming thunder.

Liam shook himself out of his reverie first, “Come on. Looks like we gotta find some high ground. See if anyone else is alive.” Both sisters nodded their head and all three started making their way forward, passing by bits and pieces of shuttle debris.

Liam began making small talk with them, asking if their survival skills were up to snuff. Sara, of course, had Alliance training, but Victoria stayed silent. Her fears of being a burden were seeming to come true and she wished she had been the one stuck in the cryo bay instead of Scott right now. He would know how to take care himself and the team. Shit had officially hit the fan and Victoria wondered if she would be able to dodge everything and anything that came their way quick enough.

She was brought out of her thoughts as Sara quipped, “Protip; don’t breathe the air… Found that out the hard way.” Victoria looked at her sharply and Sara had the grace to look sheepish as she grumbled about cracking her helmet.

They were blocked momentarily by a seeming lighting storm on the ground that had them all pausing in vague horror. Victoria got a bit too close and a bolt zapped her boot. “Fuck that stings!” She cried out.

Sara yelled, “Come on! We gotta push through!”

They sprinted through the lightning and Liam shouted, “This is crazy!”

Sara, finding unnecessary humor in all situations, called out, “Welcome to Habitat 7!”

Some welcome, Victoria thought darkly as they ran into an alcove away from the lightning. They all took a quick break. Sara rubbed at her arms and complained of pinpricks along her skin.

Liam looked thoughtful and asked, “Think that energy cloud could cause all this?”

Victoria shook her head as he spoke and responded, “SAM said its dark energy, but that’s in space.”

Sara quietly remarked, “Yeah. Hell of a cloud.”

Victoria payed her no mind and just stared at the glowing mushrooms in front of her. “What the Hell is wrong with this place?” She asked rhetorically, though Sara replied with a sarcastically cheerful, “Planet’s trying to kill us”. Liam, with a quiet and drawn face, pointed to the sky. The sisters followed his gaze.

“Space whales…” Victoria stated matter-of-factly. “Of course. Why not?” Sara threw her hands in the air and they pressed on, determinedly not looking at the giant animals in the sky.

 Sara chatted to Liam about how he had met their dad but had to stop as they started to ascend the mountain. Gun fighting, good physical health, all were foreign concepts to Victoria, but she followed her group as they jump-jetted their way over ledges. They reached the top of the moutain and Victoria had just been pulling herself up the ledge Liam and Sara had climbed up when she heard Liam’s exclamation of “What the Hell is that?” Victoria didn’t even need to ask as a giant structure filled their view. A pulsating energy cloud was emanating from the top of the architecture and seemed to feed the lightning storm around them.

Victoria had no words, but Sara replied, “Don’t know. But it’s our job to find out.” Victoria couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto her face.

“Sounds like the old man talking.” Victoria said softly. Sara smiled back at her and gestured for them to keeping moving forward. They walked a little further and saw more wreckage of their shuttle on fire. They moved closer and Liam exclaimed, “Sara, it’s Fisher!” he tried to keep moving forward, but Sara grabbed both his and Victoria’s arms and yanked them behind a rock with a rushed, “Wait… look!”

Victoria peeked over the rock they were crouched behind and gasped. Aliens! A new species! Two were walking around the crash site, kicking debris aside. They held weapons and seemed focused on their task at hand, whatever that was. They approached Fisher from behind as Liam panickily asked, “What was first contact protocol again?!” Victoria gripped his arm tightly and roughly whispered, “No deadly force unless fired upon!”

Sara huffed, “Said no one in the field ever! How do we handle it?!”

Victoria looked between the two and sighed, “Just be ready if this turns south. And let me do the talking. This is my job.” As Victoria took a shaky breath to steady herself, Liam said under his breath, “It usually does…” and she got up on unsteady legs.

She cautiously moved forward with her hands up in a placating manner. Sara was behind her, weapon drawn, but held low, and whispered hurriedly, “They haven’t seen us yet.” One of the aliens moved towards Fisher and shouted something harshly to him which Fisher clearly didn’t understand. The other alien spotted the group and called out to them.

“We can’t understand you!” Victoria loudly said to them. “Please! Give us our man and we can talk this out!” The alien that was with Fisher seemed to get frustrated with his lack of response and gave Fisher a viscous punch and all Hell broke loose. Sara brought up her gun and shot at the alien as Victoria cried out for her to stop, but the damage was done. The alien went down and the other began to shoot at the trio. Victoria dodged to the side and grabbed her own gun, but Liam took down the alien within seconds. Victoria ran over to Fisher and knelt next to him. He gripped her hand tightly, clearly traumatized. He shakily said, “So much for making peace with the locals. Thanks for jumping in.”

Sara stood over them and replied, “We tried talking. I guess they didn’t want to listen.” Victoria looked up at her sharply and expressed her displeasure. “There wasn’t much of a choice. But we still don’t know even know what they wanted.” She was glad Fisher was ok, but there was blood on their hands now. Blood, that maybe didn’t need to be shed. Victoria felt a keen sense of sorrow pierce through her as she looked at the dead alien. Who knows what might have been if they had just talked first?

Liam said lowly, “At least we know what’s what. The brochures were light on aliens who want to shoot your head off.”

Fisher shuddered, “You saved my life. Who knows what they wanted from me.”

Sara said darkly as she scanned him, “Blood samples, I’d say. Lots of them.”

Victoria smacked her arm, “Don’t be morbid.” She reprimanded as Fisher gave another all-over shake. There was no need to traumatize the man further. She sighed warily. “I’d hoped for better, but I guess it was naïve to think that they would play by Milky Way rules…”

Liam cut her off heatedly, “They broke the rules in any galaxy.” Sara moved in front of Victoria protectively at Liam's anger as Fisher cagily asked, “But why go after us like that?”

Sara, still menacingly staring at Liam, said, “One thing I know for sure, their guns hit just as hard as ours.”

Liam turned his back to the group in frustration but seemed to have an idea come to him. He spun back around and asked suddenly, “Wait, where are the others?”

Victoria and Sara looked at Fisher as he shook his head minutely. “Gone. Kirkland and Greer went looking for help.” Sara gave a huff of breath as Victoria rubbed a gloved hand on top of her helmet.

“Well, let’s get going then.” Sara said determinedly. She grabbed Fisher’s arm, and both tried to get themselves upright, but he cried out in pain.

“My leg!” He gasped brokenly.

“Sara,” Victoria shook her head in mild terror, “we can’t move him, his leg is broken.” Victoria said. She placed a gentle hand under his arm to help Fisher get back on the ground as comfortably as she could get him. She began to think that she may have to stay behind to guard him. It had only been a couple of hours since they had been woken from cryo, but Victoria was already trying on different facets of being apart of the Pathfinder team, from ambassador to guardian it would seem. There was no way he should be left alone, and Victoria was ready to step up to the plate, but Fisher insisted they leave him on the promise they would find a ride out.

“And...” Fisher paused to catch his breath, “take a few more of them while you’re at it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wanted to make this like twice as long, but got nervous. Maybe I'll get used to writing longer chapters, but bare with me! Constructive criticism is still always appreciated.
> 
> BTW, castigos means "punishments" in Spanish.  
> FYI... Victoria is of Mexican American descent, but we'll get into that later...


	6. What They Found There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ryder family fights their way through Habitat 7. Discoveries are made and Victoria has hope. But it can't last forever...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little 411, my character is heavily based on two people. An odd combination of Malina Weissman, the actress from A Series of Unfortunate Events,because I love how sweet and innocent she looks. She definitely has a Snow White thing going. Next is, Sabrina Nellie, if you google, be warned, there may be explicit images. I picked her because she also has a sweet thing going on, but like, she has this crafty/sly look. So, yeah. Let's get this over with!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_Moments Later._

After examining the alien bodies, which were a biological wonder in Victoria’s limited experience, they moved on. Victoria opened a container and secured the shield capacitors within to her armor. She wasn’t too quick on her feet and she would definitely need these. They found an atmospheric processor that confirmed to not breathe the air, but also no air pollution was present nor any sign of nuclear waste. So, what killed the planet? Victoria briefly pondered that question but dismissed it from her mind. There would be time for scientific queries later. They moved on rounding a corner and found another group of aliens surrounding Kirkland who seemed to be surrendering to them. This batch had no intentions of taking hostages and before anyone could react, shot Kirkland down. Liam and Sara charged at them as Victoria said a light prayer. She hoped she could help and not be a problem.

Victoria ducked behind a rock and took a shot at an alien close to her. She got them right in the arm and they recoiled from the blow, dropping their weapon. She had hoped they would take off to avoid direct confrontation with her, but they charged right at her with a melee weapon of some sort. Victoria sucked in a breath and aimed right between their eyes. Her aim was true, and the alien went down. No time for thinking on her actions, she turned to another alien that was aiming at Sara’s back as she traded fire with another of its group and shot at them. She missed her target, and they dodged as she continued to unload her weapon at them. They aimed their gun at her and shot, directly at her head. Her shields were good and blocked the majority of the damage, but the shot’s impact rung her head and she tried to stay clearheaded. The alien before her got taken down by a grenade that Liam seemed to be packing and for which she was grateful. The skirmish was over, and Victoria joined her group to stand before Kirkland’s lifeless body. They hadn’t even gotten to know each other, but his loss weighed heavy on their hearts. It seemed peace would not be an option here.

They moved on, because what else could they do? Victoria felt numb with the knowledge that she had killed another living person. Perhaps not a person by conventional standards and someone trying to hurt her and her own, but it was still killing. Sara seemed to understand her silence. After she finished scanning an alien structure in front of them she turned to Victoria.

“Tori… I know this goes against everything you believe in, but… you did good back there. Without you, we’d be struggling.” Sara tried to reassure her.

Victoria looked at the ground as they kept walking. “I know. I mean, I knew this might have been a reality when we came. That… I would have to defend myself, by lethal force, if necessary. I just. I had hoped, it wouldn’t have turned out this way...”

Liam walked next to her and nudged her shoulder, “I hear you. But, there’s nothing for it. We just gotta keep going.”

Victoria nodded her head and they kept moving, cautiously peering over rocks in their path and scanning the alien terrain around them. They climbed up more ledges and spotted flares going up in the distance. That had to be from the other half part of the Pathfinder team. As they started to walk in the direction of the flares, they heard an angry and ferocious growl coming from ahead. They were clearly about to encounter another alien of some kind, and this one was definitely not friendly.

A moving shimmer was the only warning they got before something pinned Liam to the ground. It materialized and began trying to bite into Liam’s armor. Sara quickly shot it with precise aims and it keeled over, dead.

It was like nothing they had ever seen. It was similar to the aliens they had been encountering in that the armoring of its body was also made of bone, but it was clearly an animal. An animal with cloaking abilities. Space whales, invisible animals, Victoria was completely baffled by the evolutionary processes of this galaxy. There was no time for her bewilderment, as they walked onto the other crash site of the shuttle. They were going to begin investigating to see if there were any signs of the other half of their team, but it turned out to be an ambush and they quickly dispatched the aliens that had surrounded them.

Liam holstered his gun and turned to Victoria with a tired grin, “You’re pretty good at this Victoria.”

Victoria’s lips twisted into a half-smile, “Liam. We’re pretty close now, right?” She paused as he nodded in affirmation, “Call me Tori, please. And, well, I’m trying. Nothing like on the job training, right?” Liam laughed at that. Sara motioned for them to listen to a flight recorder that detailed their father’s own emergency landing. There was hope that the other half of the team had made it.

They made their way further and came across an alien structure, though different in design to the giant architecture they saw when flying in. They made their way in slowly. Liam said softly, “Hope no one’s home…”

Victoria turned to him, “Really? Famous last words Liam…” Liam shrugged helplessly.

Sara shook her head and moved silently through the dark building. Victoria and Liam followed, weapons drawn. Victoria belatedly wondered if this was to be her life now. Weapon drawn, as if second nature, running through dangerous situations and fighting an alien race. Was this their fate in Heleus?

Sara scanned multiple alien machines and tilted her head at one sat in the middle of a room they had meandered into. She spoke quietly to herself, “Only one way to find out…” She activated it.

“What did you do?!” Liam shouted in fright as loud noises emanated from the foreign machine. Victoria threw herself behind some containers and waited for the attack they were all anticipating.

The lights flickered on. It was a generator. All three stared at each other and burst out laughing.

“Shh! We can’t be giggling in a hostile alien building. Stop it.” Victoria tried to reprimand, but it only made them all laugh harder. This was a bad situation, but it was nice to find something so mundane in such a strange environment. They made their way back to the middle of the building and noticed that a door that had been locked was now open.

“Well that’s not totally ominous.” Sara dryly remarked.

Liam looked at her with a grim face. “We’re investigating, aren’t we?”

Sara merely cocked a brow at him from under her helmet and walked into the room.

Liam turned to Victoria and asked incredulously, “Your sister’s crazy, isn’t she?”

It was Victoria’s turn to helplessly shrug and followed after Sara. They examined the room, in complete disarray, as if there had been a fight of some kind. That’s when they heard a strange robotic gurgling. Sara scanned near the end of the room and suddenly a robot sprang to life from where it lay on the floor and began to fire at them. They all began to shoot at it simultaneously and it went down with no further fuss.

“Great! Killer robots are now a thing?!” Sara fumed. They walked towards the door at the end and scanned a console that had two dead aliens next to it. This door was closed for a reason they rationalized and backed away slowly. It was obvious that the aliens had built this research facility around this older alien technology to study it. The age differences were obvious, but it was odd to think of these hostile aliens as being inquisitive. Of course, they were technically an invading species so perhaps the hostility wasn’t completely unreasonable.

They made their way out and were immediately besieged by the invisible animals and gunfire began to rain down upon the group. As they quickly dispatched with the ambush Liam wondered aloud if they were stalking them. Victoria felt that it was starting to feel like a real possibility. After their encounter they moved ahead, towards what they were uncertain. They just knew they had to find the others and get off this planet. Victoria was exhausted, that wasn’t a surprise, but Sara and Liam were beginning to feel the burn and if their reserves ran too low, they would be in serious trouble.

As they took a right path downward, they were suddenly accosted by a strange rhythmic static. They found a small cave and found Greer being threatened by more aliens. Victoria took the first shots and brought one down before the others realized what was happening. She gave a mental cheer as she found she was getting more proficient. After the quick scuffle, Greer came up to them with a relieved sigh. After informing him that Kirkland had been killed, but Fisher was still at the crash site, they went on their way. They felt they had to move quicker now. It seemed the longer they were here, the more of those aliens showed up. The time for chit chat was past.

They moved quicker now, towards the general direction of where the flares went up. Victoria could feel her legs wanting to give up. Her mind wanted to shut down, to rest. She looked over at both her teammates and took in their tired but resolute faces. Victoria felt ashamed of herself and tried to push through. They would be joining the other half of their team and most importantly their dad, who would hopefully have a plan.

A distinct static filled their comms. Victoria smacked the side of her helmet thinking the lightning storm was messing with the speakers. “Damn technology…” she muttered.

Sara laughed aloud, “Fuck your old!”

Victoria flipped her off as Cora’s voice became clear over the comms, stating they were doing shuttle repairs but were surrounded by the hostile aliens. Sara became serious as she told her they were approaching their position and to hold tight.

They walked straight into the fire fight. Cora was doing an impressive job of defending the shuttle, while Harry was in the shuttle, clumsily shooting at aliens, hitting them every so often, but mostly just trying to stay alive. Hayes, another teammate Victoria vaguely remembered, seemed to be getting more rattled as the aliens kept firing at her and getting too close for comfort. Liam and Sara charged headfirst into battle as Victoria ducked behind the nearest rock and targeted her closest opponent. She found that she wasn’t so good at the bringing the fight to her enemies and was better picking off targets that got too close to Sara and Liam. Cora yelled out for her to pick her target, but Victoria brushed her off. Her system was fine, thank you. She may be a civilian, but she knew what worked for her and this was working.

They took down the first wave and regrouped at the shuttle to restock their ammo. Victoria ran to Harry and hugged him. He held her tightly and said, “Was worried about you two. Should’ve known better. You two take after your dad, survivors.”

“Where is our dad, anyway?” Sara asked with fear. Victoria looked around and finally realized that Alec was nowhere to be seen. A spike of terror pierced through her heart.

Cora reassured them that he had just gone scouting ahead. Before they could voice their relief, an enemy shuttled bombarded down new enemies on the weary group. Victoria dodged the first shower of bullets, but Hayes was too slow and got struck in the leg. She fell with a startled cry of pain and Victoria aimed her gun and shot the alien who had struck Hayes right between the eyes. It seemed anger steadied her shot. Vitoria dragged her teammate into the shuttle but propped her up enough to see out and be able to shoot to defend herself. She vaguely realized another shuttle had dropped more of the aliens as she turned back to the fight.

 She ran out onto the field and straight into an intimidating and much bigger alien who held what was basically a bazooka. She gaped in horror as it shot her straight in the middle and she was propelled backwards. She hazily heard Sara yell out for her before she hit the ground hard. With the wind knocked out of her, she realized quickly she wasn’t badly injured, mostly just insanely sore, and activated her spare shield capacitor and rolled behind a rock that was next to her. The alien that had shot her came forward, looking for her to finish the job. Victoria breathed in slowly and aimed at his head as they passed her, and she shot them with three quick shots. The head came flying off and blood lightly sprayed her helmet. Victoria dropped her gun in panic and moved to wipe the blood off with her arm. Sara ran over to her and began to frantically search her body for any signs of lethal damage.

Victoria swatted her off with an impatient, “I’m fine. That just really hurt.”

Sara gripped her arms tight and gave her a hard shake, “NEVER! Never, drop your weapon on the field!” Victoria hung her head, but Sara grabbed her chin and yanked her head up to look into her eyes. “Tori. I thought I lost you… I’m just trying to keep you safe.” Sara pulled her into a hug.

Victoria sniffled, “At least the armor dress has really good armor?” They both gave a watery laugh as they held each other.

The air shifted and as Victoria and Sara lifted their eyes up a giant bolt of lighting shot right at them. Cora blocked it quickly with a biotic field. Victoria looked at Cora who seemed wary of her team’s response to the revelation that she was biotic, but Victoria just went over to her and gave her arm a quick squeeze and smiled at her softly.

“Think you could give Sara and Scott a run for their biotic money.” Victoria quipped. Sara gave an indignant hey while Cora looked shocked that they weren’t running for the hills. She cleared her throat self-consciously and said that they needed to get a move on. They walked over to the shuttle to check on Hayes as Harry tried his best to tend to her.

“I managed to get the comms back up…” she was weakly saying.

Victoria knelt next to her and held her hand. It was clear that Hayes was badly shaken up and Victoria tried to communicate to her through her touch that they were there for her.

Sara was reconnecting with SAM and suddenly their father’s face appeared out of the whole team’s omni-tool. Victoria heard him faintly say that it was good to see them in one piece and asked what the team’s status was. It was so good to hear his voice and the tension that she had been holding in her shoulders loosened.

“We have wounded crew. The good news is our shuttle’s been repaired.” Cora stated. “We can get back to the ark now.”

Alec shook his head slowly and Victoria felt confusion color her face. Alec said slowly, “Not with these storms. It’s too dangerous to fly.”

Victoria lifted her omnitool close to her face and stared dumbfoundedly at her dad, “So what? We’re just gonna live here now?”

Sara gripped her shoulder comfortingly as she moved next to Victoria’s side where she still crouched next to Hayes. She too seemed a bit angry as she said, “Our wounded can’t wait much longer. Do you have something in mind?”

Alec simply replied, “If the storm is the problem, then let’s solve the problem.”

“We’re talking about weather!” Victoria fumed, “This isn’t some equation you can just solve!”

Alec remained calm and responded, “I have an idea about that. Rendezvous at my coordinates, we’ll…” he paused and cursed, “Damn! They spotted me.” The video feed flicked off.

Sara panickily exclaimed, “Dad!”

Victoria sat heavily on the ground. She prayed she hadn’t distracted their dad too much that something happened. In the background, she heard Cora asking if Harry if he could manage alone, clearly wanting to get to Alec’s side fast. Victoria wholeheartedly agreed and made to stand when Cora gave her a sharp look.

Victoria asked, “What?”

Cora, seeming uncomfortable again, said “I can’t in good conscious let a civilian come. I understand you are part of the team, but this is serious.”

Victoria felt fury morph her face and even Cora seemed a little startled. She stood up and moved at Cora. “He’s my father Cora. I won’t let him down.” She said through gritted teeth.

Cora seemed ready to argue, but Liam cut her off. “Tori’s been holding her own out here. I say she comes. The more people we have on our side, the better.”

Victoria looked at him gratefully as Sara seemed to be torn. Cora looked at her expectantly and Victoria felt nervous that Sara was about to pull out the big sister card. However, Sara just sighed and simply said, “We’ve wasted too much time now. Tori comes.”

Victoria cocked a brow at Cora, daring her to say anything, but she just set her mouth in a straight line and gave a quick nod. The three started to move and Victoria glanced at Harry and Hayes.

“Be safe…” Victoria whispered, suddenly feeling as if she should stay just to help keep them safe. Harry smiled reassuringly however and motioned for Victoria to follow her group. She nodded and jogged to her group. She gave Liam’s shoulder a nudge as they jogged along, and he flashed her a crooked grin. Victoria felt lucky to have a friend like Liam.

As the storm intensified, the team had to stay light on their feet, dodging lightning, and jumping to and from ledges. They reached a small section of land covered in rods that seemed to draw the lighting. They weaved through the area and Victoria could feel her bangs slightly poofing with all the static in the air. Sara looked like she was about to burst out laughing, but a stray bolt landed nearly on top of her and the humor dissipated.

The group was nearing the navpoint and quickly found their Pathfinder up on a high cliff. He was ducked down and motioned for them to stay low. They crouched down next to him and surveyed the scene before them. The aliens were roaming around on the ground below them on a field of lightning rods. They seemed to be guarding the tower Alec had been trying to get a read on. Liam asked who the Hell were the aliens and Victoria looked to her dad to see if he had answers.

“They’re visitors, like us. I don’t think their native to the planet.” He curtly replied.

Sara confirmed, “They’re not. We found an abandoned lab. Like they’ve been studying the place.”

Alec looked at his daughter in mild surprise, “Good work. You actually did some scouting.”

Sara looked offended and replied, “Wouldn’t be much of a recon specialist if I didn’t…”

Victoria thought an argument might break out, but Alec just chuckled, “Well, you’re off to a good start.” He turned to Victoria, “Looks like our ambassador’s a little behind.”

Victoria sulkily looked at him, “Wasn’t much time for peace talks before they tried shooting our heads off.”

Cora, seeming to want some attention, moved to her first in command’s side and asked, “Sir, you said you had an idea about the weather?”

Victoria mentally rolled her eyes as Alec explained that the energy cloud was affecting the large alien structure they saw on descent. SAM explained that the tower was on a feedback loop with the cloud and together, they were disrupting the climate. Fix the tower, the lightning goes away was the conclusion.

“And if we’re wrong?” Victoria asked pessimistically, still stung from her father’s gentle ribbing.

Sara tried to placate her sister by saying, “It’s a hell of a gamble, but we won’t know until we get in there and try.”

Alec considered before replying, “No illusions. This is going to be a nasty fight the whole way.”

Cora, trying to one up her in Victoria’s humble opinion, said, “If Sara’s game, so am I.”

Victoria glared at her and hurriedly stated, “I’m game. Just trying to keep it real.”

Sara tried to turn everyone’s attention back to the task at hand and hurriedly said, “We risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse.”

Alec absently said, “It’s them or us.”

Liam confidently said, “Oh it’s them…” he faltered, “Problem is we’re outnumbered…”

Alec smirked, “I’ve been working on that.” He looked at Victoria and his face became gentle as he finished with, “We just need to change the math.”

Victoria really did roll her eyes as he fiddled with his omnitool. Suddenly the rods below them exploded and Alec jump-jetted onto the field. The team looked at each other in bewilderment before Liam shrugged with a “works for me!” and he jumped after Alec. Sara and Cora followed as Victoria looked to the sky for a hopeful sign before following suit.

The battle was intense. Bullets flew all around Victoria’s head and there was no way she could take cover behind a rock. She had to run to keep up as Alec and the others plowed through the horde. Her arms were burning as she fired round after round at the aliens trying to flank them. Lightning seemed to be on their side and would occasionally crash down on their foes, momentarily stunning them, which enabled Victoria to take her shots. They climbed the ramps of the alien building, ducking behind walls. Alec would occasionally tell SAM to switch something he called profiles, but Victoria barely paid attention as she focused on the aliens swarming around them.

Onwards, ever onwards, they moved and dove and jumped. Victoria didn’t even feel her exhaustion anymore, the adrenaline pumping through her veins was the only thing keeping her alive. Bullets flew over her head right into an alien that had appeared before her and their head flew off. Sara blew past her and Victoria amended her thought to adrenaline and family were the only things keeping her alive.

They reached the top of the building as Alec activated another profile. Cora asked where he was getting the profiles from as Alec ran full speed ahead.

“A little help from SAM!” he called over his shoulder and kept running. Victoria never knew he was so agile and proficient. The group moved as a solid team now, having acclimated to each other’s tactics and they cleared the main area in front of the tower easily.

Alec moved towards a console as Cora protected the area they had come from and Liam moved to the other side. Sara and Victoria flanked their father and watched as he worked on his omnitool, deciphering how to open the tower. As he worked, the others noticed movement coming from both sides. From their respective corners, Liam and Cora defended Alec and Sara ran between the two and assisted as needed. Victoria decided that she would protect her father as he worked. She was also very curious to see the Pathfinder work with his SAM and see what the team could accomplish. This was pioneering work and she wanted to witness it firsthand. SAM counted out how far along he was, twenty-five percent, fifty percent, and then seventy-five percent.

“They’re falling back!” Cora yelled in triumph.

Victoria shot her down, “Could be regrouping. Stay in your corners until the Pathfinder says so.”

SAM announced, “Decryption complete.”

Alec smiled, “That did it! It’s a security override. I’ll try to open the door from here!” He paused. “Damn! It’s jammed. I need to take a look at it.” He walked to the tower door as Sara jogged over to Victoria.

“Heh… Damn, jam…” Sara giggled.

Victoria cocked a brow at her and chastised, “This really the time for jokes?”

Sara shrugged a shoulder as their dad called her over to help him lift the door. Sara gripped the slight opening of the door and lifted as hard as she could. Victoria trotted over to see if she could help, but the doors opened to reveal a marvel within.

“Let’s see if I can have a conversation.” Alec said as he dusted off his hands and walked into the tower.

Sara looked after him in alarm and said, “Nothing on this planet has listened so far!”

Alec looked back at his daughters and Victoria opened her mouth to try to make him stop. She wanted to tell him to just leave it alone, that they would find another way. She thought of their mom and how she would always be the first to go down the path no one would tread. A trailblazer who tried first, never giving up. She could only muster a quiet, “Just… be careful.”

He smiled at his daughters and replied, “Worried about your old man, huh?” he laughed and continued, “I won’t tell anyone.” He moved further into the tower and beckoned for them to follow, and quietly called to them, “Come on. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.”

They trailed after him cautiously as he strode towards the center of the structure. A glowing triangle floated at the focal point of the room and Alec asked SAM to begin translating.

“A moment.” SAM intoned.

Victoria glanced around the room curiously. What was this place? Could it really control and fix the weather? The idea was far-fetched, and this was coming from someone who had traveled light-years to reach a new galaxy. This had to work if they were going to call this home. This hope against hope needed to pan out.

The translation completed, and Alec reached out and began pulling out some sort of complex system and seemingly scrolled through it. Sara and Victoria watched in amazement as Alec effortlessly purused through the alien system. It seemed as though he was interfacing with the system, in some way communicating with it and telling it what to do.

“This is amazing.” Victoria breathed. “A real breakthrough and we’re seeing it.”

The sisters looked at each other with wide grins as their father worked. It looked like Andromeda was panning out after all. As Alec worked, the triangle burst with color and energy shot out of its pinnacle. The ground beneath them shook and Victoria held her breath as everything began to settle again. Sara glanced behind them and tapped on Victoria’s shoulder to turn around. She looked and bright sunlight streamed down where only a minute ago an ominous sky hung overhead. They ran outside, and Victoria felt gentle sunlight caress her face. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to soak in the rays. Cora called her over and she walked slowly to her with a gentle smile on her face, all the tension from earlier dissipating at this turn of events.

Victoria had no time to even begin to contemplate how to explain to Cora what had happened within, when suddenly the tower gave an almighty quake. Victoria whipped around to look at her father and sister and as she spotted them, a violent cloud shot out from within the building and swept them off their feet. Victoria ran towards them as Alec flew over the building's edge. Sara was clinging to the ledge as Victoria sprinted to her, screaming her name. Sara’s terrified face was turned towards her and Victoria began to extend her hand out for her. The wind, however, was too strong and a piece of debris flew right into Sara and took her before Victoria could even reach her.

“SARA!” Victoria yelled.

“Tori! Wait, it’s too dangerous!” Liam shouted.

Victoria barely even heard him, for she was already jump-jetting off the building after her family. She jumped from rock to rock, searching for her sister or father. She couldn’t see! The mist from that cloud covered the ground below as she continued to make her way down. Where were they? She called out their names. No answer. She yelled for SAM to find them, but his sensors seemed to have been scrambled from the chaos.

She had just reached the ground when she saw her father kneeling over something, his salt and pepper hair exposed to the elements.

“Dad!!! Where’s your helmet??” She screamed in panic.

He began to sag forward, seeming to be saying something, and that’s when she saw Sara cradled in their dad’s arms. She had Alec’s helmet on and seemed to be struggling to breathe. Victoria fell to the ground and caught her father in her arms before he completely tipped over.

She stroked his face in panic trying to figure out what to do. Tears streamed down her face and began to itch the skin where her helmet met her flesh. “Alec? Dad?!” She cried. “No… no! Please! Tell me what to do! I don’t know what to do! PLEASE! I love you!” His mouth tried to work, but it was too late. The light seemed to leave his eyes and his body went slack. Movement behind her startled her and she whipped her head around and saw Cora and Liam running towards her. Cora fell next to her and scanned her dad with her omnitool. Her mouth formed into a hard line, confirming what Victoria’s heart already knew.

Her father was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e9/d8/37/e9d8376103122144a0db9f4cc061b0da.jpg : Malina Weissman
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/736x/92/8a/d3/928ad3246bb2fa76e1570b3c8cf517fc.jpg : Sabrina Nellie
> 
> Comments always welcome!


	7. Where the Tale Actually Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria picks up the pieces of her broken family. Where does she fit in now with the shifting of these dynamics? Time will only tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick chapter to keep things moving. Thoughts appreciated! 
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_Seconds Later._

“Cora!” Victoria sobbed, “Help him! That’s your job!”

Cora hung her head, “I’m sorry Tori. There’s nothing we can do.”

Victoria snarled at her, “Then you’ve failed this team. What's the point of you then?” Cora recoiled from her, as if she had been physically slapped. She would have to, if Victoria didn’t have her father’s body cradled in her arms.

Liam tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Victoria shrugged his hand off violently. He took a step back before saying softly, “This isn’t the time Tori… but we need to get going.”

Victoria looked up at him, tears blurring her vision. She was about to ask where they could possibly go when she realized an evac shuttle had settled behind them. She hadn’t even heard it, she was so lost in her own world. The shuttle had obviously picked up the other Pathfinder team members as Harry and Greer both ran out to the huddled group.

“She’s going into cardiac arrest!” Cora shouted at Harry as he came up behind them.

Harry took in the scene before him and didn’t even hesitate before beginning to command everyone to start moving. “Cora, get in the shuttle and begin preparations on the Hyperion. Greer get Alec and I’ll get Sara. Liam get Victoria moving.”

Everyone moved swiftly, but Victoria was stuck to the ground as her father was lifted out of her arms. She was too numb to move. Liam had no choice but to pick her up to get her to move. They all hustled into the shuttle and it took off. Liam had placed her on a bench next to Sara, who had been laid out on a stretcher of some kind. Victoria grasped her hand tightly and brought it to her chest. She gazed at her sister’s face as chaos ensued on their shuttle. The team were shouting all around them, but she only had one thought in her head. How was she going to tell Sara what happened? There was… no good way to do it. How could she tell her sister that she had now lost her father? She was parentless.

Victoria barely registered that they had reached the Hyperion until Sara was being wheeled out of the shuttle and they flew towards the tram that would take them to the medical unit. She knew she had to stay next to her sister and she jogged along trying to stay by Sara’s side until they made it into the medbay.

Dr. T’Perro was ready for them and quickly begin scanning and hooking Sara up to different machinery as Victoria stood in the back, trying to stay out of all the medics way that rushed to help the asari doctor. Liam was pacing back and forth and watching the scene in front of him and Cora was on a bed nearby staring at Sara with a worried face. The heart monitor next to Sara began to flatline. Victoria broke down and fell against the wall behind her as Dr. T’Perro ordered them to move to SAM node for some reason. Harry, Dr. T’Perro and Cora wheeled Sara back to the tram and Victoria moved to follow but Liam grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her to face him.

Victoria struggled in his grip and began beating at his shoulders to let her loose, “Liam! Get the fuck off me, NOW! Sara needs me!”

Liam raised his voice to be heard over her yells, “You can’t! You need to give them space to work! Harry won’t let your sister down Tori! You have to trust them…”

Victoria gave a broken “damn you!” and a final weak punch to his shoulder before she sagged in his arms and he held onto her as all her strength left her. She was sobbing brokenly and couldn’t form any words. All she could do was cry and pray she hadn’t also lost a sister today. Two medics with her father’s body moved by them and she watched as they wheeled him to the back. She heard a door open and close and shut her eyes tight. Where they were taking him, Victoria didn’t know. She only knew that she could potentially be an orphan again.

About three minutes passed before Harry’s voice broke over their comms to let them know that Sara was finally stable. Victoria broke out into fresh tears as Liam thanked him and hugged her close. He pulled back and brushed tears from her face with a friendly smile.

“Come on, let’s go to her.”

_**A few minutes later.** _

Victoria and Liam finally made it to SAM node and walked through the doors. Right in front of SAM’s main console, lay Sara. Victoria rushed to her side and fondly brushed some stray hair from her forehead. It felt good to see her sister’s face even though it had only been at least ten minutes since she had last seen her.

“She’ll be out for a while, but Dr. Carlyle and Dr. T’Perro say she’ll be fine.” Cora said softly from the corner of the room. Victoria glanced at her, realizing she hadn’t even noticed her when she entered the room. She felt a burning hot shame bubbling in her stomach.

“Thank you, Cora…” Victoria trailed off as Cora just gave a simple nod and turned to leave the room. “Cora?” Victoria called after her. Cora turned to her with a cautiously curious look on her face.

Victoria sighed warily and began again, “Cora… I’m sorry. About what I said. That was… wrong of me. I know you would do anything for this team and I hope you can forgive me.” Victoria looked away from the lieutenant in embarrassment.

Cora cleared her throat, “There’s nothing to forgive ambassador. You were upset. I get that…”

Victoria interrupted her, “Still. It was wrong. It won’t happen again, and I understand if you want me off the Pathfinder team.” Cora looked at her in shock. “Well, as you’re the Pathfinder now, I understand if you don’t want me on your team. Fresh start and all that…” She stopped as Cora began shaking her head.

“That won’t be necessary.” Cora paused, and Victoria’s heart leapt. Cora was giving her a chance? She would be sure to help in any way she could, but before she continued her train of thought, Cora resumed, “It won’t be necessary because… I’m not the new Pathfinder.” She paused and grudgingly finished, “Sara is…”

Victoria gaped at her and Liam, who had been quietly watching the exchange asked in bewilderment, “But you’re, or, were Alec’s second….”

Cora chuckled humorlessly, “Well, he transferred the honor to Sara. It’s all up to her now.” With that, she walked out with an air of dejection. Victoria looked back down at Sara in amazed confusion. Her sister? A Pathfinder? Would she be up for the task? Time would tell she supposed. She understood where Cora’s attitude was coming from. It was a slight to be passed over for someone who wasn’t even trained for the job. This is what Cora had been signed up for and this rejection wouldn’t sit well with someone with pride like hers. Victoria knew it would come up later and vowed to help make sure Sara would live up to their father’s expectations. He did it for a reason, and Victoria would ensure Sara succeeded no matter what happened.

Suddenly, both Liam and Victoria’s omnitools pinged, but she let Liam read the message they both received. As he read whatever it was that they both received, Victoria grabbed Sara’s hand and distractedly stroked it, lost in her thoughts about what the future would hold for what was left of her family.

“Looks like the Hyperion’s on the move. Whatever your dad did down there let us get the coordinates to where the Nexus should be.” He summarized for her.

Victoria nodded absently. She heard Liam groan softly as he lowered himself to the floor and she looked at him as he tried to make himself comfortable next to Sara’s bed. She cocked a brow at him when he finished, and he gave a one shoulder shrug, “Might as well rest while we wait for Sara to wake up. Been a long day, you know?”

Victoria smiled faintly at him and said, “You get some rest. I’m not sure I could sleep at the moment.” He looked sympathetically at her and laid down. Victoria sat on SAM’s console ledge and quietly said, “Thanks Liam. For being there, for both of us. You’re a good friend…” He just waved a hand impatiently at her as he snuggled up to the floor as best he could.

Victoria allowed herself a small smile and closed her eyes to at least let them rest. Maybe her brain wouldn’t find peace, but at least she could find a little respite. She hadn’t even rested for 30 seconds when she heard Liam begin to snore loudly. She cracked an eye open to look at him, but just silently laughed. Normalcy was appreciated, even if it was slightly annoying. A small ping sounded in her ear and for a moment she thought she still had her helmet on. Her hand flew to her bare head and she froze as a voice sounded in her mind.

“ _Ambassador. This is our private channel._ ” The voice said.

“SAM?!” She whispered aloud. She craned her head back to stare wide-eyed at the giant SAM node glowing behind her.

SAM responded, still within her head, “ _Yes ambassador? You do not need to physically speak. As I said, this is our private channel._ ”

Victoria was still panicked and hysterically replied in her mind, “ _Get out of my head dammit!_ ”

“ _That would not be possible._ ” SAM stated.

Victoria felt a cold chill go down her spine. Oh shit. He was going to take over her body.  She knew the SAM implant was a bad idea! She saw enough AI movies to know how this would go down. Maybe in her fragile state, SAM was going to take advantage…

“ _I assure you this is not the case._ ” He promised, Victoria scoffed, but he continued, “ _Alec had always intended for the Ryder family to be privately connected in this way. Before he could apply this private channel to your implants, you were taken to Habitat 7. Once Sara was brought here, however, it allowed for the connection to be completed, as it required the presence of the Pathfinder for the link to be commenced._ ”

Victoria paused before replying, “ _Well… that sounds like lazy writing to me, but if you say so…_ ”

“ _It is how it was meant to happen ambassador._ ” SAM calmly said.

“ _Can I get a few more details?_ ” Victoria asked in annoyance.

“ _It would be better if the Pathfinder was present, as my connection to her goes to greater lengths._ ”

“ _What the fuuu…_ ” Victoria began to fume.

SAM cut her off and announced, “ _Sara is regaining consciousness._ ”

Victoria stood up to fully look at her sister. She began to see rapid eye movement underneath Sara’s lids as she began to wake up. Victoria held her breath.

SAM spoke to Sara through their mental link and said, “ _Welcome back, Sara._ ”

Victoria glared at the SAM node in front of her thinking why Sara got her name and all she got was a cold ambassador. She didn’t have time to say anything, however, as Sara’s face contorted in pain and she slowly sat herself up. Victoria grabbed her arm gently and gave it a comforting rub as Sara became more aware of her surroundings

Sara, not realizing that SAM had greeted her in her mind, asked aloud, “What happened?” She looked at Victoria for an answer, but SAM beat her to the punch and continued mentally, “ _You were clinically dead for twenty-two seconds._ ”

Victoria looked at Sara in alarm, not having been told that small tidbit of information.

Sara, disregarding her own safety asked aloud, “Did the rest of the team make it?” Again, she looked at Victoria, but she looked away from Sara’s searching gaze. Victoria felt a lump form in her throat but was saved from answering when Liam seemed to have finally been awoken by Sara’s voice.

Liam sat up with a tired, “Hey…” he stretched and yawned, “You’re still with us.”

He glanced at Victoria and, realizing that she most likely had no clue about proper protocol, called the team to the SAM node. Oops, Victoria thought, forgot about doctors and all that stuff.

He looked at Sara questioningly and asked her, “Who were you talking to?”

Before Sara could answer, Victoria cut her off with a quick, “Me. She was talking to me.” Sara shot her a look as Liam looked at her incredulously. Victoria knew that he hadn’t heard her voice, but she hoped he wouldn’t question her. SAM being able to talk to them in their heads was a need to know basis. She was sure they would tell everyone, but Victoria wanted the details on the situation first before they started blabbing to everyone.

Both sisters were spared as Cora and Dr. T’Perro ran into the room and the asari began giving Sara a quick physical. However, that was also the moment Sara glanced over and saw their father’s N7 helmet.

She swatted away the doctor’s hand and looked Victoria straight in the eye. “Tori,” she began, “where’s dad?”

The air seemed to get sucked out of the room. It was as though the air had been sucked out of her lungs rather than Alec’s.

Victoria beckoned for Sara’s hands and held them tight as she tepidly responded, “It was your life or his… and, he chose you.” Victoria waited for her response.

In the background Cora hesitantly said, “I’m sorry Sara. I know this must be a blow.”

Sara seemed to go into a state of shock and responded with a diplomatic, “He made the ultimate sacrifice. He got the team out of danger. We all owe him for that…”

Cora was clearly still mourning and said, “He once said that when his time came, he wanted to go out among stars no one had seen before.” Cora looked away in pain. Victoria felt a pang of sympathy for her. She knew how much Cora respected her father and this was a blow for her too.

Sara looked around, finally realizing where they were. “What are we doing in SAM node?” she asked curiously.

Victoria looked at Liam nervously. Here came another rough topic, the Pathfinder issue.

Dr. T’Perro broke the news. “SAM is now part of you…” she paused and looked around for support, but they let her continue, “in a way we don’t entirely understand. It played havoc with your brain.”

Sara looked at her in confusion, clearly not understanding the implication. She was forming the question with her lips when SAM spared her from asking.

“Your father authorized the transfer of Pathfinder, to you.” SAM dramatically intoned. Victoria rolled her eyes.

“ _And the Oscar goes to…_ ” Victoria sarcastically voiced to SAM, forgetting for a moment that Sara would hear her. Sara looked at her with a strange face, before asking the group, “Shouldn’t that be Cora?”

Cora was plainly still bitter as she answered, “In theory… but in reality? You’re the new Pathfinder, Sara.”

Now Victoria was curious to see how her sister would respond to this bit of news. The idea of Sara being Pathfinder had never occurred to either of them. The ball was in Sara’s court and this was a momentous moment.

Sara just said with a dazed, “Whoa. Well… if that’s how it has to be…”

Victoria gave Sara’s hands a quick squeeze and replied, “Don’t sell yourself short.”

Liam chimed in, “I think you can do it.”

“Cora?” Sara asked. She held a lot of respect for her father’s second in command, and now hers, and obviously wanted her blessing.

Cora looked at the floor as she replied, “It’s what he wanted.” She looked into Sara’s face, “I won’t stand in the way.”

Victoria was vaguely impressed at Cora’s calm and begrudging acceptance. Maybe she had Cora pegged all wrong?

Cora continued with a hasty, “But being Pathfinder is a serious job. You sure you’re ready for this?”

Victoria gave her a sharp look. There’s the condescension she was expecting.

Sara processed her answer carefully before replying, “I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.”

Victoria smiled at her and assured her, “You will. And I’ll be there every step of the way.”

Sara looked at her gratefully as Liam reassured her of his support.

Dr. T’Perro brought them all back as she said, “It’s all academic anyway - SAM’s linked to your mind on a deeper level now.” She paced away and continued, “Trying to untangle it could kill you.”

Victoria thought on the implications of that. SAM was linked to Sara and herself, permanently it seemed. Unless transferred, SAM could potentially die along with them. Victoria shook her head to banish her morbid thoughts. She would ponder on that later.

Cora got back to business and said, “I know this is tough, but we need to start thinking about the next step. A lot of people are counting on us.”

Sara asked, “Is the ark still drifting?”

“That’s the thing,” Liam responded, “whatever your dad did with that tower saved the day. Some sort of atmosphere scrubber.”

Cora continued, “The energy cloud thinned out. We’re on our way to the rally point now. Should be at the Nexus soon.”

Victoria, feeling protective of her sister, said, “She needs to rest first, lieutenant.”

Cora didn’t even glance at her as she walked away. She called over her shoulder, “She’s got two hours. We’ll need our Pathfinder for this.” Both she and Dr. T’Perro left SAM node.

Liam rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and took a step to follow them before turning around and saying, “Oh, I’ll go check on Scott,” Victoria’s heart jumped at the mention of her brother’s name. She had been so caught up in Sara, she had momentarily forgotten about their comatose brother. More shame added to the ever growing pile. He didn’t seem to notice Victoria’s internal struggle and continued, “Probably still no change, but… if you can pull through this, so can he. Bit of your dad in all three of you.”

Sara gave him a stiff nod and he glanced over at Victoria. She gave him an encouraging smile and nodded for him to leave them for the moment. He walked out, and she and Sara were left alone.

Victoria looked at their joined hands and quietly asked, “How’re you taking everything in? I know, it’s a lot…” Sara looked down at their hands too but didn’t seem to have an answer. She was overwhelmed and in no shape no process her feelings it appeared.

Over their private channel SAM said, “ _Your father will be missed._ ”

Sara’s head jerked up and she asked, “What’s going on SAM?”

SAM answered, “ _This is our private channel. I shared it with him…_ ”

Victoria finished for him, “ _And now he shares it with us._ ”

Sara looked at her as if she had just sprouted three heads.

“ _This is some weird shit._ ” Sara said guardedly, “ _Dad never mentioned this…_ ”

“I know right?” Victoria said aloud.

SAM continued through their link and said, “ _Alec wouldn’t want us to lose sight of the goal. He said pain emboldens our resolve. He’d insist that we grow stronger from his passing._ ”

They stayed silent for a moment, all three seemed to be lost in thought. The damn looked to have broken within Sara, however, and tears began to leak from her eyes. Victoria watched as her sister broke down before her, unable to find any words that may help her. SAM was quiet, as if sensing that the two sisters needed a little space.

“Tori… I don’t want to be alone right now…” She hiccuped. She scooted aside on her bed and Victoria got the hint and sat next to her. Sara leaned heavily on her and Victoria took her into her arms and cradled her close, much like she had done with their father only hours ago. She rocked her sister as she sobbed brokenly in her arms, stroking her hair soothingly. This was her moment to mourn and Victoria would be the anchor she seemed to need.

“Don’t worry Sara,” Victoria whispered and dropped a kiss to her forehead, “I’ll be the strong one right now.”


	8. Happily Ever After?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's left of the Pathfinder team reach the Nexus, the fortress that promises safe harbor. But is that the case or did more crap just land onto our hero's laps?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! I just want to get to Aya already!!! But, like the actual game progression, I suppose these things cannot be rushed... Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

**_1 hour and 50 minutes later._ **

Victoria and Sara were finishing getting presentable again after their cry session. The time for mourning would have to be postponed for later. Both sisters knew that they would have to push their emotions down for the moment. Sara would blot out all the negative feelings that were welling up, but Victoria would use it to fuel her. She wouldn’t shy away from her pain but use it.

She wiggled into a tight navy blue paneled dress that a Hyperion staff member had brought her on her request and heard Sara snicker behind her. She glanced at her sister with a questioning look. Sara was wearing the Andromeda Initiative standard off-duty uniform and was staring at her with an amused expression.

“Can I help you?” Victoria snootily asked.

Sara shook her head in disbelief, “Just slightly over-dressed Tori.”

Victoria glanced down at her outfit with a frown. “We’re going to the Nexus. Not a battle zone or a pj party. This is perfectly acceptable.”

Sara just laughed.

“ _Lieutenant Harper and the rest of the Pathfinder team are waiting for you at the helm of the Hyperion._ ” SAM told them. Sara nodded vaguely and nodded her head for them to leave the SAM node. They walked through the habitation deck and towards the bridge. They were silent as Victoria noted that Sara seemed to be formulating something in her mind.

As they walked the short distance to the ship’s bridge, Sara found her tongue and asked, “Tori.” Victoria looked at her expectantly as she paused to find her words again, “Tori, do you think Cora hates me?”

Victoria tilted her head to the side and examined her sister who seemed very interested in her omnitool suddenly. Victoria considered her own words before responding. “I don’t think she hates you. I think, what your lieutenant may be feeling is rejection. I mean, she trained for the possibility to take over if something like this ever happened.” She paused and let the reality sink in. It was odd talking about her father’s death in such a clinical way, but she pushed on, “It must be hard for a military person like Cora to be passed over for an amateur. No offense. Her pride must be stung.”

Sara nodded her head as she listened intently, and Victoria finished, “I think you need to just give her time. Prove to her that our dad knew what he was doing. Not out of nepotism, but because he saw real potential in you. The potential I see in you.”

They reached the helm, but before the doors opened Sara smiled at her and nudged her shoulder with hers, “Thanks. I think you’re going to be a great ambassador.” She paused, “It’s just weird to think of Cora as my second in command. I’m the boss…”

They walked onto the Captain’s bridge and Victoria nudged her sister back, “Don’t let it go to your head. Besides, you and I are equals for the most part.” They approached Captain Dunn, Cora, and Liam and quietly finished, “We’ll get into that later though.”

The group turned to look at the sisters and Captain Dunn was the first to greet them.

“Ryders,” she said, “Good to see you two on your feet. We’re at the Nexus.”

Victoria looked out the front of the ship and before her was a huge metal construction. It was impressive, even from this distance. Victoria whistled her appreciation.

“That is a sight for sore eyes…” she breathed.

Captain Dunn continued, “The asari, salarian, and turian arks should already be there.”

Sara gave a quiet sigh, “Let’s hope they’ve had better luck.”

The Hyperion began its approach and the Nexus came into better view. Yes, it was impressive, but something was off. Something Victoria couldn’t put her finger on…

“It’s almost as big as the Citadel back home!” Liam exclaimed.

Some personnel sent a message to gain docking clearance. No reply. Everyone looked at each other in confusion as they tried again. Where were the docking crew?

The personnel looked to the Captain and said they were only receiving an automated reply.

Captain Dunn’s face colored with anger and she replied, “Well like it or not, we’re here. Take us in.”

As they glided in to the Nexus as Victoria had a thought occur to her, “What if they’re not responding because they’re not here…” Everyone seemed to understand her implication. Perhaps the hostile aliens might be involved…

They began descent and the group noted that there were obvious pieces missing from the hub.

“Construction should have been finished by now…” Cora trailed off unhelpfully.

“Could be worse…” Liam tried to make light of the situation, but Sara interrupted him angrily.

“How?” She questioned. “Habitat 7’s a bust, we might’ve started a war with the first aliens we met, and our Pathfinder’s dead. This better be rock bottom.” Victoria gripped her sister’s arm in alarm, but she was shaken off.

“Sara, we don’t know what we’re going to find. We need to keep our heads and focus on getting in there.” Victoria reassured her. Sara just rolled her eyes as the Hyperion docked. Captain Dunn dismissed them, and Sara, Victoria, Cora, and Liam walked out of the room and back into the Habitation deck.

Cora was the first to ask her new Pathfinder, “You going to be ok Ryder?”

Sara seemed recovered from her little blowup and replied, “The captain just called me “Pathfinder” … This is really happening.”

Liam gave her a pat on the back as they walked to the tram, “Just take a deep breath.”

Sara smiled at him and quietly said, “I still can’t believe Dad’s dead. This should’ve been his moment.”

Victoria quirked her mouth and softly replied, “But now it’s yours. You just need to decide what you’re going to do with it.”

Sara laughed mirthlessly, “Where do I even start? I’m just not sure I’m ready.”

The other team mates seemed momentarily at a lost for words. A Pathfinder with no set path was disconcerting and there was no good way to say she needed to make one and fast.

Liam seemed to be the residential cheerleader and said, “We weren’t ready to fall out of the sky on Habitat 7. But we survived that.”

Sara, not totally convinced, simply said, “Right…”

Victoria joked, “So, basically, always keep a jump-jet ready?”

The group laughed as they entered the tram and punched into the tram console to take them into the Nexus.

“It’ll be nice to see some friendly faces this time.” Sara optimistically said.

“Assuming everyone’s alive and the Nexus hasn’t been besieged by those hostile aliens.” Cora absently said as she scrolled through her omnitool. Everyone looked at her in disbelief. She finally sensed everyone’s eyes on her and looked at them with a surprised face. “Well,” she panickily continued, “The Nexus runs a support crew. Enough to build the station and provide safe harbor for the arks. I’m sure everything’s fine…” she tapered off as everyone continued staring at her.

Liam shook his head, “They built a bar, right? Gotta have champagne for the welcome party.”

Victoria nodded enthusiastically. She realized she was in desperate need of alcohol, specifically the fizzy kind.

Sara was skeptical after Cora’s dark thoughts, “You’re expecting one?”

Victoria pushed her sister, “After what we’ve been through, I could use a buzz.”

Sara grimaced, “We all could…”

Liam’s happiness seemed to have been popped, “Rough ride so far…”

Cora, trying to make up for her blunder, cheerfully said, “We’ll bounce back. Real food and a shower are just ahead.” Victoria threw her a small grin and Cora smiled hesitantly back.

They all remained quiet until the tram stopped, and the doors opened to reveal the common area of the Nexus. They all got off and Victoria noted that it was… really dark. Too dark.

“Maybe it’s a surprise party…?” Liam trailed off hopefully, but it was just too much to ask for.

Boxes of unopened supply crates lay everywhere, walls were half-constructed, and there wasn’t a soul around. Sara began scanning everything in the vicinity for any clues and Victoria just looked around in despair. No blood, that’s a good sign, but it didn’t explain why there wasn’t anyone anywhere. Cora absently asked if they should try the VI in front of them. Victoria shrugged and walked over to the asari VI and activated it. It warmly greeted them and asked how she could be of service.

Liam started, sounding posh, “Can you tell us where the welcome party is hiding?” Victoria smacked his arm and he shrugged feebly as the VI told them she didn’t understand his question.

Sara tried this time, but the information they received was extremely out of date. They logged out and the VI errored out with a loud robotic screeching that left the surrounding area discordantly quiet in its wake.

“Riiight,” Cora said as she stared at the VI in disdain, “That was helpful.”

“ _About as helpful as your fucking comments…_ ” Victoria thought venomously. She saw Sara suck in a laugh and bit her lip with her own hidden smile. She’d have to remember to mentally switch the private channel off and on. It could get embarrassing having her sister in her head. They walked a bit further and spotted a worker.

“There’s a guy!” Liam said excitedly, “Maybe he’s got champagne.”

“Drop the champagne thing Liam.” Victoria warned.

Sara approached with a warm, “Hi there!” The worker got up and turned around to look at them, his mouth fell open as Sara continued, “We’re from Ark Hyperion. And wondering where everybody went…?” The man just kept staring at them.

“Maybe he’s deaf?” Victoria whispered.

Sara shot her a look. But before she could say anything, the worker disbelievingly asked if she had said ark.

Sara straightened herself to full height and confidently replied, “Yeah, we just got in.”

Cora interjected with her own two cents, “And for what it’s worth, your VI over there could use an update.”

The worker just stuttered out, “But… we thought you were all dead!”

“What?!” Cora exclaimed. Sara sent her a mental eye roll and Victoria had to bite her bottom lip to keep from giggling at the absurdity of the situation.

The worker continued, “Well, or captured. Or lost in dark space, or…”

Suddenly a gravelly voice came from the direction of the trams.

“I don’t believe it…” a tall and muscular turian said as he approached them.

Oh, shit… Victoria wasn’t one to ogle, but she could appreciate the very welcome sight before her in these dark times. The turian stopped in front of them and gave them an appraising look. He reached his hand out and Sara gave him a quick and firm handshake.

“I’m Tiran Kandros. I lead our militia on the Nexus.” He introduced himself. Sara glanced over her shoulder and looked at her sister. She gave her a quick suggestive quirk of her brow before she resumed giving Kandros her full attention. She rolled her eyes at her sister’s head and shook herself out of it. She was a professional, no flirting with the higher ups.

Sara introduced Cora and Liam, and finished with, “And this is my sister Victoria Ryder, ambassador to the Pathfinder team.” Sara mentally added, “ _Woefully single I might add…_ ” Victoria mentally slapped her as the Commander apologized for the confusion. Saying the sensors were notoriously wonky and they had dismissed it as a fluke.

Victoria assumed an air of professionalism and asked, “But aren’t you expecting us?”

Kandros paused, searching her face, before answering with a quiet, “You’re the first ark we’ve seen. After a year of waiting and no sign of the others, we shuttered this area and stopped looking.”

Victoria asked in concern, “So you’ve been stranded for a whole year?”

“Longer,” he immediately replied, “I’ll fill you in on the way to the Ops Center.”

“Lead the way.” Sara said.

As they made their way back to the tram, Kandros let them know that everything that could go wrong, did. They too had encountered the dark energy cloud which knocked them off course.

“We’re familiar with it…” Sara quietly said.

Kandros kept going, “Then you know why we call it the “Scourge”.” It seemed that the months of chaos that ensued caused an armed rebellion that once shut down, branded the insurgents as exiles.

“Are things back to normal?” Cora naively asked.

Kandros seemed to agree with that sentiment and scoffed, “Not even close. But you’re here now so maybe the worst is over.”

Victoria mentally threw her hands in the air. Did these people have no idea what situational irony is?

“No word from the other Pathfinders?” Sara asked.

“No word from anyone period.” Kandros said dejectedly.

Liam spoke up, “Any threats from the locals?”

Kandros sighed and rubbed his hand over his forehead before replying, “So far, we’ve stayed hidden. We’re in no shape to deal with an attack.”

Victoria gave her own sigh, “We had a first contact situation on Habitat 7. Whole thing went south.”

Sara impatiently interrupted, “They tried to kill us.”

Victoria gave her a one-eyed glare, “ _Thank you Mr. Tact…_ ”

Kandros wasn’t fazed by their sibling bickering, “That wasn’t first contact – we know about them. Those aliens are going to be a real problem.”

“This day just keeps getting better.” Cora quipped and for the first time Victoria agreed with her as they finally arrived at Operations.

Liam walked ahead and said he was going to check the security situation. Victoria wished him luck and they continued on without their crisis specialist. Before heading up a ramp to what they presumed was the control center Kandros stuck an arm out to halt their progression. He seemed to be debating something as his mandibles flared in and out in agitation. They waited, and he said, “You should know… our command structure has been fractured. Some of us are filling in for leaders who died.” He continued up the ramp and Victoria and Sara looked at each in alarm. That was not a promising start. “…and no one was expecting an ark to finally show up.” He said over his shoulder as two workers rushed past them.

Voices reached their ears, greenlighting the Hyperion for docking and other chatter was heard. As they walked into the makeshift control center everyone turned to look at them. Victoria felt a slight flush spread over her cheeks as they were stared at like animals in a zoo. She tugged at the hem of her dress nervously and wondered if she really was dressed inappropriately.

A salarian walked towards them with a pompous, “The crew of the Hyperion…”

Victoria felt rather than saw Sara’s scowl and immediately knew that her sister and this man would not get along. Kandros gave them an ominous, “good luck” and deserted them. Traitor, Victoria petulantly thought.

The salarian continued, “I’m Jarun Tann. Director of the Initiative. You have no idea how much your arrival means to us.” Director Tann didn’t even reach a hand out for a shake, the ass.

Victoria replied to him, in lieu of Sara’s silence with a diplomatic, “We’ve heard about what happened and we’re ready to help.”

A woman came forward and did shake Victoria’s hand, “Ambassador Ryder. We could use any supplies you have -food, water- we’re short on everything.”

Victoria remembered her name, “Director Addison, a pleasure.” Victoria warmly smiled.

Addison seemed mildly surprised she remembered her name but didn’t press as she looked behind them. Tann also seemed to be searching for someone, but he was less subtle and asked with a rude, “Where’s the Pathfinder?”

Sara defensively replied, “You’re looking at her.”

Both Addison and Tann looked taken aback and Director Tann sneered, “You’re not Alec Ryder.”

Victoria cut her sister off, “Our father’s dead. He made Sara his successor.”’

Addison asked in disbelief, “Alec… is dead?” Sara nodded her head in quick affirmation and looked away. Addison seemed thoroughly panicked now as she continued, “Please understand: the entire Initiative is at risk.” She beckoned them forward to what appeared to be her work station and began to pull out different bits of her work. “None of the golden worlds panned out. They’re a bust and there’s been no word from the other arks.”

Cora timidly asked, “What happened to them?”

Director Tann, real emotion coming over him replied, “Unknown. Our supplies are nearly depleted. Rationing bought us some time, but even that’s running out.”

Victoria thoughtfully began, “We need to find more resources…”

Addison cut her off, “But that takes people, and we can’t wake them up…”

Victoria picked off where she left her sentence, “until they have somewhere to live. A golden world.”

Addison nodded. “Now more than ever, we need a Pathfinder.”

Everyone turned to Sara, and Tann patronizingly asked, “It now falls to you, Ryder. Are you up to the task?”

Sara stayed quiet until Victoria gave her a mental nudge. “I may not have been the first choice, but I’m ready for this.”

Victoria gave her sister a quick smile that was squashed by Addison’s impolite, “Youthful enthusiasm will only get you so far in Andromeda.”

Victoria was ready to lose it all by slapping that insolent look that had settled over Addison’s face off when a gruff voice wafted over to them.

“That’s no way to treat a guest.” An exasperated female krogan walked over to them. Victoria was grateful to their second knight in shining armor as they walked over to them. Victoria happily stuck her hand out for the krogan to shake as she said, “I’m Nakmor Kesh, superintendent of this station. I hope they haven’t scared you off already.”

“Ambassador Victoria Ryder. A pleasure. This is Sara Ryder, Pathfinder to the human ark, and Lieutenant Cora Harper. I’m sure everyone’s just trying to do their jobs.” Victoria cheekily smiled to Kesh.

Addison seemed offended and said, “It’s nothing personal. But now isn’t the time for on-the-job training.”

Kesh argued back, “At least the Pathfinder here seems willing to try. We could use a fresh perspective.” Victoria felt a surge of warmth for their savior as Addison backed off and left them to ( ~~go lick her wounds~~ ) get back to her work.

Director Tann tried to get some leverage with a faked air of sympathy, “We’re all feeling the pressure…” Victoria bowed her head to him in mock seriousness, but he seemed to lack any sense of sarcasm. “Let’s have a private word Pathfinder Ryder. We’ll discuss giving you a scout ship.” Tann turned toward Victoria, “I’m happy to work out the details with you Ambassador.” He moved forward, and Victoria gave Sara a quick kissy face and a lift of her brows before following Tann to what he termed his office.

“Ambassador,” Director Tann started, “Tell me more about the planet you landed on.”

She sighed and pulled up a holoimage of Habitat 7. “It’s not even close to livable.”

Tann nodded, “That’s been true of every world we’ve found. But now we must discuss the next mission for the Pathfinder team.” He gave a dramatic pause. Victoria waited and sent a mental SOS to Sara.

Victoria gave a slight cough when the Director didn’t continue, “We look forward to our first mission Director. Though, perhaps Director Addison won’t approve?”

Director Tann pulled up his omnitool, “My opinion overrules hers. As I oversee the entire Initiative, I’ve decided to give your sister the chance to prove herself. Settling a world, despite the obstacles, Specifically, this one, Eos.” He seemed obscenely proud as a hologram of a planet protruded from his omnitool and Victoria tried to muster the most convincing look of awe she could. He continued, “The Nexus will provide a shuttle, enough for a small team to examine and then settle the planet.”

Victoria did not like the word shuttle and thought quickly. “Director Tann, your generosity is greatly appreciated.” Tann seemed to inflate, and she continued to press, “The resources you provide us are the key to helping the pathfinder team in their success. And our success is your success, after all…”

Tann froze in thought, realizing that the Pathfinder’s failure would also be the Nexus’s and, more importantly to the Director, his. He typed something quickly on his omnitool and hastily said, “Of course. The Pathfinder team is the beacon of hope that we need. With morale low, it is prudent we are successful ambassador. Your team will want for nothing, I assure you.”

 Victoria put on her most simpering face just as her sister walked in. Victoria knew the sight must have been comical, but she was glad that Sara managed to bite her tongue.

Tann seemed to puff up even further, how Victoria wasn’t sure, and said in his best commanding voice, “To that end, the Scourge dealt us a serious blow. Whatever it is, our scientists theorize it’s not natural.”

Cora walked in as if sensing the opportunity to ask a stupid question, “An artificial energy cloud?”

Victoria wished she could flip her off, but reigned it in with a dignified, “Clearly, our scans from the Milky Way didn’t detect it when we left. Yet, it rendered all the golden worlds unlivable. Natural occurrence seems unlikely.”

Tann nodded sagely and added, “Then there’s the aliens you ran into – the “kett”. They’re obsessed with the alien structures around the cluster, similar to the disastrous one on Habitat 7. They’ll do anything to prevent others from accessing them. It seems murder isn’t exclusive to the Milky Way…” Sara and Victoria looked at each other in mild surprise. That was the least self-serving thing Tann had said within the past few minutes. “And now,” he plowed on, “the challenge is to settle a world in spite of all that. This one here – Eos.” He gestured again to the planet that was still being projected from his omnitool.

Victoria mulled her thoughts around and thought aloud, “So… increase the viability of the planet to establish an outpost. Get an outpost and we can bring colonists out of stasis. The more colonists, the more resources we can gather to support the Nexus. No biggie.”

Sara looked at her doubtfully, “But you all said that these planets are unlivable? So how do I…?”

Director Tann cut her off, “A good Pathfinder would relish the challenge of solving it.”

Sara glared at him and Victoria and Cora sensed that Sara would need a moment with the Director, alone.

“Um, right. So, I’ll just go check on things.” Cora hightailed it out of the room.

Victoria peeked at Sara’s face, but saw no fear in her sister’s eyes. “Pathfinder, I’ll leave you to it.” She turned to Tann, “Director, I’ll just go and become acquainted with your colleagues. Perhaps, check on that ship?” Director Tann merely waved her out.

She had barely made it out the door when a high-pitched static pierced through her skull.

“ _Ryders,_ ” SAM spoke through Victoria and, she assumed, Sara’s implants, “ _please see me in SAM Node on the Hyperion. Your implants need attention and we need to discuss a private matter._ ”

Victoria nodded absently but decided to still meet with the other higher ups on the Nexus. Director Addison was first on her list and that was a complete shitshow. Not only did she insult her father passing the torch to Sara as an “inbred monarchy”, she outright refused to acknowledge Sara’s standing within the Initiative. It wouldn’t do to have Sara not be backed by the Initiative, but apparently it was more important to snub the only person who could help them. Victoria managed to salvage her talks with the Director by listening to her concerns about Commander Kandros.

“You don’t trust him?” Victoria asked seriously.

Addison hesitated in contemplation before haltingly replying, “I trust him to protect us. I do not trust a rising military influence…”

Victoria nodded perceptively, “We’re here to make history, not repeat it. I hear you.”

Addison seemed to appreciate her understanding and bid her a somewhat friendly, “Ambassador.” As she turned to go, Addison continued, “Ryder’s not a Pathfinder until she’s pathfound something. Nothing in Andromeda has panned out. This is why no one will trust Ryder. Why I don’t trust her. Help her prove me wrong.”

Victoria nodded, and walked to Kesh’s office wanting a friendly face after all the bullshit she had been through. Kesh took one look at her face and began to laugh.

“Hope the others haven’t given you too hard of a time. There’s lots that need to get doing.” Kesh chuckled.

Victoria smile tiredly, “Oh, I’m sure.” She ran her fingers through her bangs in agitation. “So, Kesh. What is it that you do here?” Kesh filled her in that she helped build the Nexus and now kept it functional. “Well,” she amended ruefully, “As functional as possible.”

A thought occurred to her, “You know, besides you, there aren’t any krogan around?”

Kesh huffed, “Ask number eight, he has opinions.” At her look of confusion, “Director Tann was number eight in line to lead the Initiative. I like to remind him to keep him humble. At any rate, I only have this to say, a deal was made. My clan was supposed to settle matters and in return, we would have more say in Initiative matters. When Tann found out, he had a meltdown. Addison’s assistant, Spender, pretended he never made the deal in first place.” She paused to rein in her emotions, “I don’t blame my people for leaving, we’re done being used.”

Victoria bit her lip, wondering if this was taking it too far, before asking, “So, why are you still here?”

Kesh planted her hands on the desk before her with an air of tentativeness. “It’s…complicated,” she said. “The station, and my clan, need me here.”

Victoria nodded in understanding before bidding a farewell to her, hopefully, new friend. Time to meet with the Commander, she thought. No, she didn’t smooth down her hair and no she didn’t check her reflection in the metallic walls off Kesh’s office.

She walked down the ramp towards the militia office. She didn’t know why she was nervous, but for the first time in forever, she had an itty bitty crush. However, it wouldn’t get in the way of her work. It obviously couldn’t. Kandros was a de facto leader of the Nexus and a romance between him and any member of the Pathfinder team could be construed as a conflict of interest. What if Nexus control needed to step into Pathfinder business? The Commander wouldn’t be fit to do his job as the team reported to Nexus leadership. It would get messy, bottom line.

Victoria rounded the corner and spotted Kandros leaning over some datapads and dismissed two lackeys with an authoritative wave of his hand. Still… it didn’t mean she couldn’t look, right? There was just something about a person, man or woman, in a uniform that just did it for her. She walked over and as he looked up she gave him a small smile. His mandibles flared into what she interpreted as a grin, and she swore she saw his eyes dart to her waist and stood up straight. She felt herself give a wistful sigh, he was very handsome, what a shame.

“Ambassador.” He said in his way of greeting.

“Commander Kandros, pleasure to see you again.” She said.

He looked into her face and chuckled, “I know that look.” Victoria felt a cold sweat break out on her hair line. Oh crap, was she that obvious? He continued, “The others bent your ear, did they?”

Victoria laughed in relief, “Something like that…” She felt a nudge at her mental link. Shit, Sara heard her thoughts about Kandros. There was a ringing laugh through the link and with some exertion, Victoria felt she had pushed the link to the back of her mind. She would deal with her sister later.

Kandros, completely missing Victoria’s mental struggle, said darkly, “You get used to it…” he sighed, “Just, focus on being ambassador. Can’t argue with results, though those bloodthirsty politicians will try.” Victoria repressed a smile as he realized what he had just said. “Spirits! I didn’t mean you. They… I mean…” Kandros ran a hand along his fringe in frustration as Victoria laughed in delight.

“Relax Commander. I know what you meant…” Victoria paused and lowered her voice conspiratorially, “I won’t tell.”

Kandros relaxed and breathed out a sigh of relief, “Sorry. Been on edge these last fourteen months. Felt good to just let loose, even for a moment.”

Victoria nodded sympathetically before getting down to business, “So, I have been hearing that things are… a bit of a mess. If there’s anything I or the team can do to help, just say the word.”

Kandros nodded, “Besides finding a home for colonists, a safe world, there’s not much. The turian ark is still missing, scattered reports indicating the Natanus was destroyed or others saying people are alive…” he looked away in pain, “who knows?”

Victoria ached for him, to not know where your people were and having no means to find them… it must be hard. Especially for a made-for-action kind of man Kandros appeared to be.

“Well, finding the arks are on mine and the Pathfinder’s priority list. Any evidence or news we find will be automatically forwarded to Director Tann…” Victoria paused as Kandros looked at her, happy to hear that she was taking this seriously, before adding, “I’ll be sure to forward information directly to you as well. Our militia will need to be updated as quickly as possible, of course.”

Kandros looked immensely grateful but seemed to not know how to express himself. Victoria saved him the trouble and extended her hand out for him. He grasped hers with both his hands and warmly squeezed it. “Thank you, ambassador. It’s good to have a real ally on our side…”

“Tori, Commander, please call me Tori. And of course, I look forward to not only being colleagues, but hopefully friends.” Victoria smiled warmly at him.

Kandros looked down at their joined hands and gave hers a minute stroke with one of his gloved fingers. The moment passed, and he let go. “Friends it is. I go by Kandros, Tori. Thanks again. Come by if you ever need anything,” he seemed to smile, and his mandibles fluttered in amusement, “Even if it’s just to vent.”

With that they bid each other goodbye. Victoria smiled to herself, glad to have made another friend that day, and spotted Liam in the security office. Speaking of friends…

“Liam!” Victoria called out and smiled widely as he turned from the woman he was talking to and waved her over.

She stopped in front of Liam and cheekily asked, “Find our champagne yet?”

Liam gave her a quick smile, but turned serious again, “This place is a mess. Security is… let’s call it strained.”

Victoria quirked her mouth to the side in thought, “Well, is there anything we can do to assist the situation?”

Liam finally gave her a genuine smile at her earnestness, “That’s why I like you ambassador. You get right to it.”

The woman standing next to Liam grew impatient with them and interjected, “The Nexus is running on empty. A lot of the exiles were security.” She huffed in agitation, “Not only are those kett dangerous, but now we have our own people to worry about.”

Victoria put up a gentle hand to interrupt the woman’s onslaught. She seemed shocked that she had now been interrupted and unhappily folded her arms in front of her.

Victoria took a moment to compose her thoughts before she spoke, “I can empathize with your concerns. The situation here on the Nexus is, for lack of a better word, tense.” The woman huffed a derisive laugh, but Victoria ignored her, “Like you, they were frustrated. They could have brought the station down when they left, but they didn’t.”  She turned to Liam and looked him straight in the eyes, “As long as the Nexus is here, as long as we’re here, we have a job to do.”

Liam was nodding his head enthusiastically, “Hell yeah… double-down, crisis mode. I can do that.” He turned to the woman, who now seemed to be looking to Victoria for further guidance, and said softly, “We, can do that.”

Victoria felt pride in Liam as he seemed ready to step up to the plate and nodded at him in goodbye. Before she left though, he gently grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a one armed hug, “Thanks Tori… or should I say, ambassador?” Victoria laughed softly, as he seriously said, “Ready and willing Ambassador Ryder.” He smiled, and she waved at the security woman and started to make her way to the tram.

Victoria wondered where her sister was and brought her link back to the forefront of her mind.

“ _Hey Sara? What are you up to?_ ” Victoria mentally questioned.

There was a slight flurry of emotion that was sent to her before Sara replied, “ _Oh, you know.  Solving a murder case, electrocuting myself for funsies._ ” A slight stinging sensation went through Victoria’s body, “ _Fuck!_ ” Sara cursed, “ _Fucking control panel piece of shit,_ ” a pause, “ _Beats dealing with those asshat Directors though…_ ”

Victoria laughed, “ _Not sure what happened, but my meetings went fairly well._ ”

“ _La-dee-da…_ ” Sara sarcastically said, before the connection was severed. Victoria shrugged and walked down the steps that led to the tram and caught Cora coming out of the tram.

Victoria gave her a small nod and Cora returned it, “Just got back from the common area. Said the ship won’t be ready for another hour.” Victoria nodded, and Cora gave her a friendly smile, “Hear you’re to thank for it too. One of the dock managers said they had a dinky little shuttle for us, but Tann gave the order to break out the big guns for us after your meeting.”

Victoria shrugged self-deprecatingly, “I just assured him that with the arks found it would help boost morale and that I was sure that the resources he provided would ensure ours and the Nexus’s success. He seemed to like that idea.”

Cora laughed, “Well, the messages I got from the Nexus leadership couldn’t stop singing your praises, though…” Cora sighed in disgust, “Tann and Addison had a lot to say about Sara’s supposed attitude. They really grilled her.” Cora seemed to pick up steam. “And Addison? First pathfinder they’ve seen in over a year, all she can do is question Sara’s competence?” She growled in disgust. “She doesn’t know her! I do, well, we do, and I think she’s doing fine…”

For Victoria’s part, she was rather surprised to see Cora upset on her sister’s behalf and said, “I appreciate you saying that Lieutenant. Though, I was under the impression…?” She let her question trail off and hoped Cora would take the bait.

Cora hesitated, “Well, it wasn’t my first choice. You understand.” Cora said in a rush, but Victoria just smiled at her encouragingly to let her be candid. “But, Sara needs her team behind her. We all need to make sure this works, for the good of everyone. I’m not going to get in the way of the primary mission. Settle Andromeda.” Cora finished with a swift nod of her head and walked away.

Victoria turned to watch her go with a small smile on her face. Maybe they don’t see eye to eye, but… she had her sister’s back. That’s all she wanted to hear. She walked into the tram and set course to the medbay. With the extra time on her hands, she sent a quick message to Sara’s omnitool that she would be in the medbay with Scott until they were ready to go to SAM Node. She sent another message to Liam that the ship would be ready in an hour and to be in the docking bay in fifty minutes.

She quickly reached her destination and walked quickly to reach Scott’s side. Through the medbay doors, stepping around milling personnel, she quickly found Scott lying on one of the medbeds. Before she could even begin to look after Scott she heard familiar voices talking amongst each other. She turned her head and saw the other half of the team huddled on two beds. Victoria walked over with a friendly face and they stopped their conversation as she approached.

Fisher was the first to speak, “Ambassador. We… heard about your father.” He glanced at Victoria’s face before looking away, “We wanted to offer our condolences.”

Victoria felt tears coming to her eyes, but hastily brushed them aside, “Thank you. I appreciate all of your support.” She shook her head to clear her mind, “At any rate I’m glad to see you all doing better.”

Fisher continued, “Captain says I’m going in the log as the first human to make contact with the kett.” He glanced at Greer, who’s face had become drawn, “Kirkland’s the first casualty… wish it could’ve gone differently.”

Victoria looked at Greer sadly, knowing Kirkland had been a close friend, “How are you feeling Greer?”

He sighed, “Honestly? Grateful. If you, Liam, and the new Pathfinder hadn’t have found me… I just keep thinking about Kirkland… and, your father…” he trailed off.

“We’ll never forget their sacrifice,” Victoria softly said, looking at the three before her, “It was a brave thing, risking your life for the greater good.”

Greer nodded, before saying in a slightly ashamed tone, “Yeah, just not fair. I’m sorry I’m, well, we’re not out there with the team. For me, Kirkland was a friend and… I’m just not cut out for this anymore.”

He looked down and seemed to be waiting for Victoria’s scorn. She merely placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, “I understand.” She looked at Hayes and Fisher too, “Habitat 7 was a nasty wake-up call. You all focus on taking care of yourselves. I know you all will accomplish something amazing here on the Nexus.” They all nodded and smiled as Victoria gave them quick hugs. She didn’t pester Hayes with words, understanding that sometimes, there are no words.

She turned back to Scott and noticed that Harry was now standing over him and writing things down on his datapad as he scrutinized Scott’s prone form. He looked over as she approached but continued working on his datapad. He was quiet as he scrolled through various tidbits of information and Victoria watched him intently. Harry never blew her off like this. Had she done something wrong? Did he blame her for her father’s death?

Harry sighed heavily and lowered the datapad to look at her with sad and guilty eyes.

“Victoria…” he said heavily. “It’s, good to see you…” He looked away and Victoria reached for his free hand. He looked at Scott and quietly said, “Your dad… I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

She felt her head shaking before Harry had even finished. So that was what this was about. Harry blamed himself.

“Harry.” Victoria began. Harry continued to stare at Scott’s still face and she gently tugged his hand to wordlessly ask that he look at her. “Harry. Our father knew what he was doing. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his family, and there was nothing you could have done to change the outcome.” Harry’s eyes shifted to look at the floor, but she continued, “Sara and I don’t blame you…”

Harry finally looked up and quirked his mouth into a half-smile, “Now I just need to make sure your brother here pulls through.” They both looked at Scott’s unusually peaceful face.

“So, I take it you’ll be staying here on the Hyperion?” Victoria cautiously broached.

Harry sighed, “You know that moment when you realize you’re getting too old?” He looked at her face and shook his head, “Shouldn’t be asking you that, still a kid after all. Well, trust me, it happens. For me, it was Habitat 7.” He chuckled, “Watching you guys running around, dodging lightning and the kett…” He looked wistfully into the distance, “It’s a young man’s game. Pains me to admit it, but its passed me by.”

She gave Harry a tight hug and whispered, “We’ll miss you Harry…”

He pulled away with a fond smile, “Don’t be a stranger. If Scott’s condition changes, I’ll let you all know. Besides, Scott may be comatose, but every Ryder I’ve had in my care has given me a hard time, and I’m sure a nap won’t stop Scott from keeping me on my toes.”

Victoria laughed and as Harry walked away she heard the doors whoosh open. She turned and watched Sara converse with a man on a medical bed. The man gave Sara a pendant of some kind and they said their goodbyes. Victoria cocked a brow at her curiously, but Sara shook her head with a small, “I’ll tell you later…”. Sara and Victoria looked down at their brother and Sara gave his hair an affectionate tousle. They didn’t speak as the silence settled comfortably around them. They were happy to have each other, even if it was just for this moment before duty ripped them from their family. It seemed that they finally had a better understanding of their father. An understanding that he could not teach them in life, but a lesson they learned in the wake of his death. Sometimes, life worked in such mysterious ways, but it was better to keep rolling with the punches than to let it sweep you away.

Sara gave a tired sigh, seeming to feel older than the twenty-two years she actually was, before saying, “Better get to SAM Node before the ship’s done. We have 30 minutes, but this may take some time.”

Victoria nodded reluctantly and bent down to press a chaste kiss on her brother’s head in farewell. It would be awhile before they saw their brother again and her heart was already breaking at the thought, but duty called.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b7/cb/2d/b7cb2d22399547395869a53f0a1621bb.jpg : Outfit!


	9. The Continual Moving of the Goalposts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and Sara's work is only just beginning. With task after task getting added to their plate, the sister's are finally getting a move on into what Andromeda has to offer. They may not have a noble steed or magical carriage to see them through, but that doesn't mean they aren't riding in style

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! No I didn't forget about this or have writer's block, it was something even worse! ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES. I know, gross right? Anyway,I finished this one and hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to roll out. We're finally going somewhere after ten billion years! This was shorter than I wanted, but then I hit 11 pages I was like... um let's just get this out there. Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

_Minutes Later._

Victoria and Sara walked through the doors of SAM Node. It was odd being back. It felt as if it had been a week since they had been here, but it reality it had only been a few hours. They had so much on their plates now than they did then. Victoria felt older than she had those few hours ago.

“Hello Ryders.” SAM said, interrupting Victoria’s inner monologue, “Welcome back to SAM Node. I’ve adjusted my connection to your implants. The headache or ringing sensation you experienced before shouldn’t reoccur.” A faint orange light in front of SAM scanned over the sisters’ bodies and Victoria felt slightly exposed after it disappeared.

“Yeah, what was that about? You said we needed to discuss something confidential?” Sara queried.

Victoria looked at SAM expectantly. The AI gave the impression of hesitating before answering.

“You should know certain facts before you leave on your expedition. It seemed best we speak alone.” SAM stated.

Victoria rolled her eyes, “So, you can speak to us in our mind, but whatever you needed to say needed to be said out loud and in person?”

“Yes.” SAM simply said.

Sara just glanced at her sister before responding, “I don’t understand the need for secrecy.”

“Illegal AI technology and you don’t understand the need for secrecy?” Victoria muttered to her sister, but Sara just elbowed her in the side as SAM began to speak.

“Your father felt it was for the best…” SAM paused.

“What was our father trying to hide?” Sara ventured.

SAM didn’t hesitate this time, “My true capabilities.”

Victoria gave a dramatic sigh, “We’re getting into, super-smart AI can take over the human body territory again, aren’t we?”

“It is not that sinister.” SAM said reproachfully, if they were capable if emotions at any rate, “Alec overrode the safety protocols. It allows me unrestricted access to the Pathfinder’s physiology.”

“Sure, that’s not menacing at all!” Victoria exclaimed. “That’s Sara now!”

“And only Sara.” SAM countered. “I can act as a force multiplier, dramatically enhancing the Pathfinder’s motor and natural skills when required. Alec called them profiles. They provide unique tactical augmentation during combat.”

Sara seemed pleased with these new abilities, but Victoria was only getting started.

“So, what’s to stop you from just taking the controls one day and going for a joy ride? Or just ditching Sara’s mind and frying it to jump to the next available host?” Victoria fumed.

SAM argued, “I provide an _enhancement_ to the human form. It is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both.”

Victoria laughed mockingly, “And what do you get out of it?”

“Though I’m artificial in design, I am fully sentient. Far beyond what even the Initiative understands.” SAM stated.

Sara finally spoke up, “I don’t follow. You’re an AI, so what’s different?”

SAM took a moment before responding, “I am a new form of AI, drawing directly from the human experience. Your implant is my window into the world.”

Victoria drew in a deep breath to steady her heart rate. She had to stay calm and objective. Whether or not she was fully comfortable with having SAM in her head or having a portion of control over Sara’s body was, the deed was done. SAM was a member of the team and now she needed to understand them. SAM was a different life form, but still a life. A team member that was under her care now and she would need to address their concerns if they ever came up. A question popped up in her head.

Victoria quietly asked, “How do human experiences affect a computer?”

SAM seemed to consider the question before replying, “This was a question your father often pondered. I am intended to be the answer.”

Sara shook her head, “These philosophical questions are interesting, but the ship should be ready soon. I need answers on how this relationship works for you and me SAM.”

While SAM and Sara discussed the dynamics of the Pathfinder and their AI companion, Victoria thought on the implications of SAM. The idea of AI was unsettling for her. She had concerns, of course, but SAM seemed genuine enough. In her limited experience, blind trust was never the answer, but also complete hostility to a team member was ill-advised. She would need to get to know SAM, and for that matter the other members of the team, better before any final judgements.

Her thoughts were interrupted when SAM announced that their father had placed blocks in SAM’s memory that prevented them from knowing what Alec’s plans were, which was entirely unnecessary in Victoria’s humble opinion.

“Dad strikes again.” Sara sighed.

Victoria quirked her mouth and said, “Famous Ryder secrets?”

Sara smiled, “Yeah, you would know all about that.”

“Not without recourse,” SAM interrupted, “The further Sara explores as Pathfinder, the more blocks will be removed.”

Fetch quests were a bitch, Victoria thought bitterly. There was nothing to be done though. Victoria’s omnitool pinged and as Sara scrolled through her new Pathfinder profiles, Victoria read her new email.

“Looks like the ship is almost ready. Hanger bay manager says they’re behind by 20-30 minutes.” Victoria summarized.

Sara looked up from her omnitool and grinned, “Good! Gives us time to snoop around Dad’s quarters. SAM said we might find some of his plans in there.”

Victoria frowned, “Feels wrong to snoop through his things…”

Sara hesitated, “Ok snooping was a bad word. We’re just, trying to see where we should go from here. Maybe he has some advice for us.”

Victoria shrugged. Sara’s mind was made up and if she wanted to do this there would be no stopping her. With a quiet, “You’re the boss,” they trooped out of SAM Node and right into their father’s room. It was rather spacious but felt cozy. On the wall next to them an assortment of guns were laid out in display. Further into the room on the farthest wall was their father’s workstation. As Victoria walked over and took a seat in front of the main computer, Sara laughed in delight.

“The coffee machine Mom got for Dad. He was so busy designing you – needed the caffeine.” Sara said wistfully.

“I did not realize I owed my existence to a bean.” SAM quipped.

Victoria spun in the chair and laughed, “And now you know what humility feels like.”

Sara began to laugh but then her face contorted in pain and she reached slowly towards her head. Victoria made to stand up and voice her concern when Sara waved her off.

“What was that?” Sara asked.

“An eidetic trigger related to your father and the portions of my memory array he locked.” SAM responded.

“That’s BS.” Victoria countered.

Victoria could practically feel SAM mentally shrug before he replied, “One of your father’s memories is now accessible. Return to SAM Node to investigate further.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen in front of her where she had been trying to get into her father’s personal logs. She tapped furiously on the keyboard, but nothing happened. She was able to access the general logs where Alec described a vague hope of being not only a better husband, but a better father. Victoria could feel a lump in her throat and clicked on a log talking about an asari archeologist who Sara seemed to remember. Her research was on datapads around the room and Victoria made a mental note to collect them for their ship. The last log that was accessible was from only several hours ago. Their father’s last log.

Sara walked up behind Victoria as she clicked on the final log.

Alec’s voice rang out clearly through the room, almost like he was right next to them.

“Dunn’s agreed to a scouting mission on Habitat 7. I’m gearing up now.” The recording said. Victoria reached a hand up and Sara gripped her hand tightly as Alec’s recording went on. “I’m worried about Scott. Dr. T’Perro says he’ll be fine, but… he’s my son. How can I not worry? I hate to leave him like this. It’s these moments when you wish you’d told your children you loved them more often.” A heavy pause. “Or ever.” Victoria and Sara gave a watery laugh. “Which brings me to the tough part. Kids, if anything happens to me, there are… things you’re going to find out. I hope you’ll understand.” The log ended.

Both sisters sat in a heavy silence and processed what they had just heard. Victoria was surprised that Alec foresaw his own demise somehow. Of course, it was a precaution, but still. So many secrets. Why? And what were they?

Victoria tried to log into an encrypted log, but SAM theorized that unlocking the memory Sara had triggered may enable access. Which was coincidental.

They made their way back to SAM Node, though Victoria quickly ran around Alec’s room collecting the datapads from Dr. T’Soni, and Sara logged into the terminal.

“Pathfinder, the blocks your father placed on my array are opening. I can now recall specific memories which Alec wanted his children to see.” SAM announced.

“Describe it to us.” Victoria quickly said.

Sara furrowed her brows before asking, “No Tori… I think… Wait. You’re saying we can see his memories?”

“Yes.” SAM confirmed. “You will experience them via your implant.”

Victoria gaped at the SAM Node, “That is some freaky shit…”

Sara nodded before firmly saying, “Let’s see it.”

The memory played. It was when their father was posted as the military attaché on the Citadel. The scene flashed through the sister’s minds. It was like she was remembering a memory of her own, but in HD. Alec was trying to get AI for humans. He believed that it would boost humans standing in the intergalactic community as a legitimate race. The other people in the memory disagreed. They denied their father’s request for more funding and left. A computer next to Alex flared to life and suddenly a familiar and welcome face flashed before their eyes. It was their mother. Alec asked what had happened at the doctor’s. The disease that had been plaguing Ellen was terminal, but Alec wouldn’t back down from what he seemed to perceive as a challenge. The memory faded away.

Tears were gathering in Sara’s eyes as she breathed out, “Wow, hearing Mom again. I never knew that’s how Dad found out.”

Victoria nodded, “That was… 2184? A little after that you and Scott came back to the Citadel, but then we moved back to Earth to go to hospice… Wonder why he wanted us to see this?”

“Perhaps it was the beginning?” SAM theorized.

“The beginning of our journey here?” Victoria questioned out loud, but shook her head slightly, “It doesn’t matter right now, we should get going. The ship should be just about done.”

Sara looked alarmed, “But what about the new log?”

Victoria sighed and gestured for her to lead the way. Sara took off and Victoria followed behind slowly as she pulled Cora’s email and sent her a message to meet them in the Hyperion’s Habitation Deck in five minutes.  As Victoria walked into the room and towards her impatient sister, Sara was already starting the new log.

This log was entitled: Ellen’s disease. Alec seemed to be coming to the realization that the time he had spent on his career were pointless as he had lost valuable time with the woman he loved. SAM was going to somehow be more than Alec had ever imagined. He didn’t go into further detail, but perhaps that would become clearer later.

Sara and Victoria looked at each other and shrugged. Ryder family secrets were notorious for being convoluted. There would be time to talk about it, but they needed to get going.

They walked slowly out of the room and walked in silence. They made their way to the tram, both lost in thought. There were so many questions and answers to discover. It seemed as though there were an endless amount of missions to accomplish, hopes to see through, and failures to correct. Who knew when they would have time to just be young 20+ year olds again?

“587 days.” Sara said. Victoria looked at her questioningly and Sara smiled and pointed to her head. Oops, she had forgotten about the link again. “587 days until we qualify for vacation.” Sara clarified. “I looked up our vacation hours. I already need a break.” They both laughed as they walked down the steps to the tram. Cora was standing in front of the tram doors as they approached and they all smiled warmly at each other.

“Ready to see what Tann gave us?” Cora asked with a smirk. “I hear it’s something special.”

Sara was punching in the directive to head to the Hanger Bay as she turned to Victoria and Cora with a mischievous smile, “All thanks to our lovely Ambassador.” She simpered sarcastically.

Victoria laughed and kicked her shin. She pulled up her omnitool and had it connect to the Hanger Bay’s management team, “Pathfinder en route. How’s the ship?”

A voice, which sounded turian replied, “In final checks and looking great.”

Victoria unconsciously nodded and replied, “We won’t be long.” She signed off and looked at the tram’s map. Cora and Sara were chatting about how they would be on their own in the field.

“In other words, we’re making this up as we go.” Sara joked.

Cora laughed and replied, “We used to call that “tactical improvisation”.”

Victoria smirked and said, “At least we’ll be doing it in style.”

The tram stopped at their destination and Victoria could feel butterflies take flight in her stomach. A low hum resounded in the distance and as they looked ahead they could see a red and glittering ship flying towards them as Cora breathed out reverently, “They call her the Tempest…”

The Tempest glided to the ground and glistened in the fake sunlight of the artificial sky above them. It was glorious. Cora walked ahead of the sisters as they tried to collect their jaws from the floor. They followed Cora as if in a trance, their eyes never leaving the beautiful ship in front of them. Eventually they stood before it. A small group of crewmembers were loading the ship with supplies as a turian ordered them to hustle.

Victoria sighed rapturously. “That’s not a ship Sara. That’s a freaking Ferrari…”

“And it’s all ours…” Sara said in a hushed voice.

“So, you’re the ones that are making everything happen…” a sultry voice wafted towards them said.

The female turian that had spoken over the comms and had been directing the crew was walking towards them. Normally, female turians didn’t really do much for Victoria, but confidence was quite the aphrodisiac. She strutted over to the three women and placed her hands on her hips. Oh, but she was a poised one. Victoria felt a grin creeping over her face as the turian, Vetra Nyx, introduced herself.

“Are we ready?” Vetra asked impatiently, “The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“You’re coming with us?” Sara asked stupidly, clearly smitten too. Victoria nudged her sister mentally, but she blew her off.

“Yes. Otherwise there’s no way they’re letting this ship off the station.” Vetra replied easily.

The three humans looked at each other and shrugged. Vetra’s mandibles flared into a seeming smile and they started to make their way onto the ship.

“Hold it. Hold it! You’re not going anywhere.” A voice called out to them.

“Damn it…” Vetra swore.

Sara held her hands up in mock surrender and said, “It wasn’t me!”

Victoria shook her head at her sister’s antics and spoke quietly to the man before them, “Is something wrong? I’m sure we can work this out.”

The man claimed that Director Addison demanded to have an inventory of all the supplies on this ship. Director Addison was gunning to be the bigger pain in the ass to Sara it seemed. No matter how much Victoria wanted to just flip this man off she knew it wouldn’t help the situation and tried to put her foot down.

“Director Tann and I discussed this. He overruled Addison…” Victoria began to argue, but the man wasn’t having it. Looks like they were to be grounded for the near future until Addison decided otherwise.

Their new turian friend, however, was not to be deterred as she walked over to the man and ushered him aside, with promises to bring his son out of cryo. All three humans looked at her in surprise. That was quite the promise… It seemed to work, however, and they were let go.

As Vetra passed by the group she said, “All things considered it was an easy ask. Right now, you need people tearing down obstacles, not putting up more.”

They followed their new team member into the Tempest and Cora whispered, “Finally! Someone who cares about doing stuff and not just talking about it!”

Victoria nudged the lieutenant and said in a mockingly scandalized voice, “Cora! I thought you liked the rules!”

Cora laughed, “You ass! I like the rules, know them pretty well too. Enough to know when to bend them every now and then.”

They walked fully into the ship and it was just as impressive on the inside as the exterior was. There was lots of activity inside and as they continued walking, Dr. T’Perro walked by them with a smile and a friendly greeting. Cora walked away to inspect the armory off to the side of the engineering room. They took a lift up and were quickly introduced to Gil Brodie, the Tempest’s engineer. They walked through a large door and into the research room where a young woman, Suvi Anwar, breezed past them to welcome SAM and “Ryders, of course!”.

Vetra walked them to the Meeting Room and let them know that they would be sharing the Pathfinder’s quarters.

“So, it’s not really the Pathfinder’s quarters is it?” Sara asked petulantly.

Victoria smacked her arm as they stopped at the railing that overlooked the research room. They all paused and soaked in the moment.

Sara sighed, “It’s really going to be something isn’t it?”

Vetra chuckled, “I haven’t even shown you the best part. When you’re ready to fly, head over to the bridge. Our pilot should have everything good to go.” With that Vetra walked off and left the Ryder sisters alone.

Sara half-turned to look at her sibling, “Think we’re ready for this?” She paused, “Do you think I’m ready for this?”

Victoria leaned towards Sara, “If Dad thought you were ready, then so do I. Just remember that you’re not alone in this.”

Sara nodded and whispered conspiratorially, “Wanna explore a bit before we act like responsible adults?”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Victoria excitedly said.

They took off down the ramp and ran down the short clear walkway. They saw separate twin ladders and positioned themselves on either side without even needing to use words. They raced down the ladder and Sara won easily. They walked into the galley and rummaged through the cabinets to see what snacks they had before walking into the Crew Quarters. It was cozy in there and they walked out and into the medbay. Dr. T’Perro was looking at a datapad but looked up as both sisters walked up to her.

“You’re not Harry.” Sara said rudely. Victoria groaned at Sara’s lack of tact. She had briefly wondered if Sara was really going to need an ambassador, but with those manners, Victoria’s work would never end.

Dr. T’Perro retorted “The blue give it away?”

Victoria laughed and turned to her sister, “Harry said he would be staying on the Hyperion to watch over Scott.”

Sara nodded and said, “He knows Scott’s the good one.”

Dr. T’Perro dryly remarked, “I think you’re all trouble…” she gestured for Victoria’s hand, “Hold still.” Victoria tilted her head in question before a sharp pain spread throughout the hand in the doctor’s grasp.

“Ow!” Victoria exclaimed and recoiled.

“Sorry.” Dr. T’Perro said suspiciously unrepentant.

Sara laughed, “So, Dr. T’Perro…”

She was cut off by the asari, “Just Lexi please. If we’re to be working with each other, I think a little less formality would be wise.”

Victoria slightly grimaced, “That’s gonna take some work. Formality makes me comfortable.”

Dr. T’Perro, or rather Lexi, laughed, “Don’t worry, there’ll be a lot of firsts here. Still can’t believe I’ll be taking care of the Pathfinder and her team… I suppose this is my opportunity to study alien species first hand.” She paused, “Getting a kett specimen aboard the Hyperion would be difficult, but here…”

Sara and Victoria glanced at each other in concern.

“Uh…what?” Sara hesitantly asked.

“A kett corpse!” Lexi exclaimed as if the mere question was absurd and not her request. Sara and Victoria gaped as Lexi continued, “For autopsy, of course. A live subject would be better, but I’m not greedy.”

Victoria frowned, “I suppose a study of the kett would show potential weaknesses and such… but, if we get you a live specimen… isn’t that torture?”

Lexi shook her head, “I wouldn’t go that far. Alive, I can look at how the internal work functions while dead everything is obviously not moving. Like I said, I’m not greedy.”

Victoria smiled/grimaced and declared, “One kett specimen coming up!”

With that, the sisters beat a hasty retreat from their mad asari ~~scientist~~ doctor. They made their way back up the ladders and into the bio lab where Cora was emptying boxes and seeming to be making herself cozy. Well, cozy was perhaps not the right word as Cora seemed to lose control of her biotics and a box was kicked halfway across the room.

“ _I think you need to have a private chat with your lieutenant…_ ” Victoria said through the link.

Sara nodded and began to talk to Cora as Victoria backed out of the room quickly, wanting to part of the confrontation that was most likely about to occur. Sticking her nose in Pathfinder and second-in-command- business would earn neither she or Sara any points. She pushed her link to the back of her mind to let them have their privacy knowing Sara would fill her in on the pertinent details later. Victoria walked across the research room and peeked into the tech lab, but lost interest. Sure, she understood the necessities of the two labs, but if she ever needed something examined or her gun to be augmented, she would leave that to Sara or other capable hands. She looked over to the bio lab, but it seemed as though Sara and Cora’s heart-to-heart would take some time, so she decided to continue her own tour of the ship on her own. She was sure Sara wouldn’t mind, seeing as how the ship was her’s and she could explore it anytime she chose. She walked through the doors to the cargo bay and activated the lift to the ground. She vaguely remembered that Liam had called out saying something about taking one of the rooms in the back. She randomly chose the door on the right and walked in.

Liam was thankfully in there and pushing the rattiest couch she had ever seen across the floor into a place that seemed to satisfy him. At the sound of the doors whooshing open he looked up and smiled widely at Victoria. He wiped his brow and said happily, “Hey Ambassador. Want to help me with this thing?” At her look of undisguised amused disgust, he laughed and looked down fondly at the couch. “I know, not exactly standard, but got to make the space comfortable. Plus, the fabric diffuses the charge from an overclocked omni-blade. Not giving up a six percent boost, right?” He looked at her expectantly.

Victoria blinked rapidly at him before eloquently asking, “Come again?”

He just laughed and plopped down on the couch. He reached towards a bottle that was on the coffee table in front of the musty couch and opened it before taking a long swig from it. “Time for that beer? Not champagne, but…”

Victoria made a face, “Not so much into the beer, but I can hang out for a minute. Sara’s, um, conferencing with Lieutenant Harper.” She sat down delicately on the couch trying to ignore the dust cloud that sprang up.

Liam nodded sagely and said, “She’s still taking it hard, huh?”

Victoria nodded herself before replying, “I don’t blame her. It must be difficult for a by the book person like Cora to be, well frankly, gipped out of getting promoted when by all rights she should have been. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud my sister is the Pathfinder. Dad wouldn’t have done it for nepotism, but because he would have truly believed that she was fit for the job. But, I also understand that Cora was prepped for this. It’s a difficult time for both parties.”

Liam was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating his response, “I think your sister can do this. I mean, she sorta has to, right? No turning back now.”

Victoria sighed, “Yeah, cheers to that.” She lifted an imaginary drink and pretended to clink it with Liam’s. They chatted about Liam’s family and why he had come and why Victoria had come. They had just both been laughing over a joke Liam cracked when Sara walked in. She didn’t appear to be angry or stressed, so her conversation with Cora must have gone better than expected.

“Just talked to Vetra and Gil. Both have everything in place so we better head to the bridge Tori.” Sara said as she looked between her and Liam. Victoria mentally rolled her eyes as she got up.

“Thanks for the talk Liam.” Victoria said.

Liam just waved them off as he polished off his beer. Both sisters walked out of Liam’s makeshift room in silence though Victoria could feel her sister’s eyes on her. As she called the lift down and they stepped on, Sara seemingly grew tired of the silence and asked teasingly, “So… you and Liam, huh?”

As they slowly walked towards the doors of the research room, Victoria shoved Sara playfully, before retorting “It’s not like that. For me at any rate. Liam was there for me when, well, shit hit the fan on Habitat 7. He’s a close friend.”

Sara seemed unconvinced, “Uh huh…” They were finally at the doors that lead to the bridge, but Victoria stopped them before they entered.

“Yes really,” Victoria said firmly. “We can get into it later, but I do want to emphasize right now that all crew members are off limits. Fraternization is completely foreboden.” Sara opened her mouth to protest, but Victoria cut her off, “No. It’s not up for debate. That extends to Nexus leadership. Conflicts of interest and all that. Though…” Victoria slyly looked at her, “I know how much Tann makes you hot and bothered, you will have to resist.”

Sara looked completely disgusted, “First of all, EW! Bothered yeah…” Victoria laughed and Sara mockingly pouted, “Fine fine. No humping the crew.”

It was Victoria’s turn to look disgusted as she crinkled her nose at Sara’s vulgarity. The moment of sisterly bonding passed, and they knew they had to resume their professional facades. They finally entered the helm of the ship and were awestruck. It was small, but the technology within could certainly pack a punch from what the young women could tell. Sara breathed out in wonder, clearly realizing that this was really all hers.

A salarian spun around from his chair at the front and walked over to them eagerly. He approached with an excited, “Ah! Time for introductions. You must be Pathfinder Ryder!” He reached his hand out for Sara’s and they shared a firm handshake. “Kallo Jath. A pleasure to be here – and to meet you, of course. Ambassador Ryder. A pleasure.” Victoria shook his hand as well, taking an immediate liking to the friendly salarian. “I’ll be piloting the Tempest at your word, Pathfinder. Quite the ship! But it’ll take a Pathfinder’s guidance to see us through Heleus.” They all looked around the helm admiringly.

Kallo gestured for Sara to follow him to the fore and Victoria trailed behind taking in everything. As Kallo rambled on how to work the Tempest’s controls, Victoria could feel a sense of pride blooming in her chest. It was finally settling in that they would be really doing this. Settling this cluster for the good of their people. The rest of their small crew walked onto the bridge, seeming to realize that they were preparing for take off and had wanted to join them for takeoff.

Cora spoke quietly to Sara, “It was optimized… for a Pathfinder.” Cora stopped herself from continuing and seemed to reign in her emotions. Victoria was proud of her for trying to respect Sara’s big moment, no matter how much the lieutenant had wanted this for herself.

Vetra filled in the silence, “Everything’s secure if you’re ready.”

Liam quietly commented, “Is anyone ready for something this big?”

Sara apparently lost herself in a moment of doubt and Victoria stepped forward for her big sister, “We signed on for the big stuff when we came to Andromeda. Failure is not an option here.”

Kallo and Suvi took their places on opposite sides of the console. Cora nodded at Victoria and patched herself to the command hub of the hanger bay clearing Sara’s command of the ship as successful. Suvi established the monitor systems as functional as Kallo gave the greenlight for the helm to proceed.

“This is it Ryder,” Cora said, “The Tempest is yours. Unless you’ve got something to say, for the log?”

Victoria tried to lighten the mode with a joking, “Speech, speech!”

Sara gave her a side-eyed look and then turned back to look out the ship’s window as she thought of what to say.

“We were all expecting a golden world…” she said in a faraway voice. “Now, there’s just a long road ahead.” She paused, and Victoria glanced around the room. Everyone was raptly looking at Sara, but she didn’t seem to notice as she continued in a firmer tone, “But hold onto that dream. It might just see us through.”

Victoria placed a gentle hand on her sister’s shoulder and Sara reached up to twine their fingers. It felt good to share this moment with her sister. Even though they had been through so much in such a brief period of time, it felt like they could do this. As long as they had each other. Kallo finished prepping the ship and suddenly they were taking off. Who knew what was in store for their little family, but both sisters were excited to see where the road would take them.

“To Eos.” Sara confidently said. The crew gave a cheer, gave Sara warm pats on the shoulder, and then turned around to go back to their respective rooms while the Tempest took them to their destination.

Andromeda zoomed by them as they ploughed though space towards adventure, revealing spectacular views, glimpsed only for a millisecond as they moved faster than light. While awed and inspired, Victoria only had one thought in her head.

“We have a theme song, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theme song is definitely Andromeda by Gorillaz. I mean the whole Humanz album has ME:A written all over it, but for flight, it definitely has to be this song! Check it out if you haven't! I play the album in my car pretty much on the regular...


	10. The Beginning of the Long Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pathfinder team finally starts their first mission on Eos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Laaaaaa... That is all!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

**_1 hour later._ **

Apparently, Sara didn’t need to stand in the helm for the entirety of the ride to Eos, which was about a day and a half trip. This was an immense relief to the Pathfinder and so with their course set, the Ryder sisters finished Sara’s tour of her ship and Victoria met the rest of the crew. Gil was a laugh and Vetra was clearly confident in herself. She knew she would get along with them just fine. Victoria hadn’t wanted to bother Suvi and Kallo while they were charting their way through the Scourge, so she let them be. There would be plenty of time for everyone to become acquainted. What the sisters were most excited about were their separate quarters. Sara and Victoria made their way to their cabin and walked in with baited breath. Sara laughed excitedly and jumped onto the bed that was in the corner, but Victoria grimaced at the sight of the very much single bed in the room. It was a queen sized bed, so the girls would fit, but… Victoria still wanted her own space.

“The couch on the other side is a queen sized pull out bed. It will suit your needs.” SAM said from his little node on the desk.

Victoria nodded in SAM’s general direction and walked over to her bed and sat down. It was surprisingly comfy for a sleeper bed, so that was very pleasing. Victoria moved the coffee table in front of the couch to the side and sighed in satisfaction. This would work very well. She glanced over to the desk and noted how bare it all seemed. That would have to be fixed soon if she had anything to say about it. Her attention was then pulled to the side of the desk where a large sleek wardrobe stood. She walked over to it and pulled the doors open. She gasped in delight as all the clothes she had brought to Andromeda were stored. She had packed far more than her family combined, which was a good thing because she was able to take some of their allotted weight limits and use it for herself. How fortuitous. She ran her hands along her casual dresses and rubbed the cotton fabric wistfully. She hoped that she would be able to wear normal clothes soon as they were already unsealed from storage and looked as good as when she had bought them 600 years ago. Her armor was ok, but she yearned for when normalcy would rein. She then turned her attention to the few evening gowns she had. When she would wear them? She didn’t know. But there was a gorgeous evening gown, a cocktail dress, a special event dress, and a ball gown that had all been vacuumed tight to save space and save the fabric. She hoped that they wouldn’t just sit here and collect dust.

Sara was done inspecting her side of the room and was sitting on the edge of her bed. She was clearly processing everything that had been happening and Victoria didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts. She carefully made her way to the bed and sat down quietly next to her sister. Sara stayed silent for a moment before she began to speak her thoughts.

“Can you believe this Tori?” Sara asked softly. “So much has happened, in such a short amount of time… This should be Dad’s.” Sara looked down at her feet. “I wonder what they did with Dad…” she trailed off and shook her head to banish the morbid thought.

Victoria considered her words before she responded, “We can’t worry about that now, Sara.” She broke off, a sudden concern working its way into her heart, “I know that if Scott were here, he’d know just what to say to make you feel better. It’s not the same as having him here, but I hope I’m doing ok as your support system here.”

Sara glanced over at her as she nudged her with her shoulder. “Still a little sibling I’m looking out for.” Before Victoria could protest Sara ploughed through, “You’re exactly what I need Tori. Thank you. I might not say it enough, but… I love you.”

Victoria was about to make a joke when Sara put a hand over her mouth with the most serious look on her face. The time for jokes was not now it seemed. With their little therapy session over the two women decided they should catch a little sleep before they reached Eos. As Victoria prepared her bed she came to the realization that she hadn’t slept since she was woken up from cryo. It felt like days had gone by, but the reality was disconcerting. She shook it off, extended the couch out, and laid down in her bed. It really was incredibly soft, and she fell asleep within a minute of lying down, exhaustion finally overtaking her body. Thankfully, no dreams pervaded her sleep and she slept soundly.

_**16 hours later.** _

Victoria woke with her hair trying to fight its way into her mouth. She impatiently brushed it to the side and stretched her back out.

“SAM? How long have I been asleep?” Victoria asked groggily.

“You have been asleep for over 16 hours. I did not wake you sooner as your body needed the extra rest.” SAM calmly responded.

Victoria nodded sleepily and looked over towards Sara’s bed. Light snoring was emanating from the bed and Victoria knew she would not disturb her for the world. She glanced towards the desk and where a small projection of SAM floated in a small node. Victoria felt that this was a good time to have a chat with SAM and get to know him better.

Victoria started off hesitantly, “Sooo, SAM…” she paused and waited for a body language cue that would never come, “tell me about yourself?” Victoria felt like throwing herself out of the ship. What kind of question was that?

SAM didn’t seem to mind, “Ambassador, I sense you feel awkward about having this conversation. Would you not want to avoid these feelings of discomfort by desisting?”

Victoria sighed, “SAM, call me Tori. We are team mates now.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “That was probably the wrong way to start a conversation with someone like you. I’m awkward because well, I let you have it the last time we had a full conversation and I want to move forward. Your concerns are mine now and I want you to feel comfortable around here and with me.”

SAM’s light flickered thoughtfully before he replied, “I see. You feel discomfort because you are unsure of how to fix my own discomfort as an atypical life form?” Victoria nodded. “The sentiment is appreciated. I am not uncomfortable, and your concerns are sound. I will not fry Sara’s brain. It would end badly for both of us.”

“More so for Sara…” Victoria muttered.

“Sara is important to me. The feelings of paternal affection Alec had for Sara, as well as for you and Scott, seem to have transferred to me in a small way. I would not do anything to willingly or maliciously hurt any of you.” SAM said in a soft affected tone.

Victoria looked at the small SAM node with a gentle expression on her face, feeling the urge to hug SAM but knowing there would never be a way to express her feelings in a physical way. She only hoped her small connection with SAM would be enough to show him how much his words touched her. A random thought occurred to her.

“SAM?” Victoria hesitantly asked. SAM waited patiently for the question. “SAM are you a male?”

_**2 hours later.** _

Sara was finally awake and after both got themselves into casual clothes, Initiative issued sweats for Sara and a cute neutral colored dress for Victoria, they left their room and into the galley to scrounge up some food. They both settled down at the table with two dry protein bars and ate them hurriedly. It wasn’t the best thing they had ever eaten, but it would do. Victoria wasn’t sure what they were going to do in their spare time while they waited to arrive at Eos. They had 18 more hours to go and this was honestly taking forever.

Sara chuckled, “Tori, relax. We’ll get there when we get there.”

Victoria glared at her and grumbled, “I just want to start getting out there and proving ourselves. We need to make this is a success. Not only for our people, but to make Dad proud.”

Sara nodded, “I understand where you’re coming from, but we need to come up with a game plan. We can’t just hit the ground running when we land.”

Victoria sighed and leaned her head back against the upholstery of her seat. She closed her eyes and let her jumbled thoughts try and come together to form a plan.

“We need to get your team into the meeting room then.” Victoria thought aloud. “We need to establish a loose plan of what we will be doing once we get to the planet. Specifically, how to accomplish Initiative goals and such.”

Sara heaved a sigh, “Boring… but fine.” She pulled up her omnitool and connected to the speakers of the ship, “Pathfinder team meet in the conference room in 30 minutes. Over and out.”

Victoria smirked at her sister’s casual ordering of her crew. She seemed to be getting used to telling her team mates what to do. They quickly picked up their small mess on the table and headed to the conference room before any of the other team members got there.

Sara paced around as they waited for everyone to show up, but Victoria decided to put her time into effective use and grabbed a datapad that was nearby and began to type some bullet points of goals they needed to accomplish. She ranked them from priority to menial tasks. She was thinking of how to expound on the tasks when their small crew slowly trooped their way into the meeting room. Sara had stopped pacing was bracing her hands along the large holoprojector in the middle of the room and watching as her team assembled. Vetra and Cora walked in with rigid backs, clearly looking ready to go, but Liam sleepily shuffled in, yawning, and rubbing his face as if he had just woken up. He came to stand next to Victoria and she nudged his shoulder in greeting before turning her attention to their Pathfinder.

Sara cleared her throat after everyone had settled themselves around the holoprojector.

“Sooo,” she started off awkwardly. Victoria mentally groaned and gave her sister a mental push. Sara tried again, “Ok team. I gathered you all here to quickly talk to you about what I want to go down on Eos. It’s not a concrete plan, mostly because, well, we don’t really have a plan and know what to expect when we get there.” Sara stopped and looked around uncomfortably. Victoria grimaced as she herself became uncertain about the mission. She decided to try her luck.

“What the Pathfinder means is, we need to cover Initiative goals and how we may want to accomplish them. We were given some directives from our higher ups and we’d like to discuss them with you all.” Victoria paused and looked down at her datapad. “First, obviously we need to find a way to make the planet a viable place to live. Habitat 7 was a stepping stone on figuring out how to accomplish that. Now we need to take the information we got from that situation and apply it to how we move forward on Eos.”

Vetra sarcastically raised her hand, “You mean like not getting killed?”

Victoria looked at her sharply, “Yes. Our father dying was certainly a learning experience that we won’t be taking for granted.” Vetra looked down at her feet, seeming ashamed she had forgotten their tie to the previous Pathfinder. Victoria continued, “Next, we need to see if we can find any leads on the missing arks. Maybe Eos has some leads, maybe not. We’ll need to keep an open mind while we’re there. Last, once viability is ascertained, we’ll need to establish an outpost. Questions?”

Cora raised her hand, “How do you fit into all of this Ambassador?”

Sara answered for her sister, “Tori will be coming with us on missions,” Victoria whipped her head towards her sister in alarm, but Sara blew her off, “We’re short-staffed at the moment and she is qualified to be there with us when the time calls for it.”

Liam and Vetra nodded, but Cora remained unconvinced. Sara glanced at her omnitool and nodded her head once definitively, “We have less than 17 hours til Eos. Rest and get your gear into shape. I want all of you to visit Lexi for a quick physical. She’ll need to clear you all for duty.” It seemed the crew figured Sara was done and left before she could even dismiss them. Victoria shook her head. Sure, Sara was getting used to telling them what to do, but that didn’t mean the crew necessarily respected her as a leader. They would have to work on that.

_**15 hours later.** _

It seemed like forever, but they were finally coming closer to Eos. Kallo had just given them a 2 hour warning and the ship seemed to come alive with a flurry of action. Everyone was zipping around, prepping armor or survival packs if they needed to be on the field for more extended periods of time. Camping was never a fun idea to Victoria, but she knew she would have to suck it up if they got stranded somewhere.  She had just finished watching Sara give her guns a little juice (and hello second gun!) and they were suiting up and getting ready to deploy. Butterflies were taking flight in her stomach and she had a flashback to when they had been gearing up for Habitat 7, unaware of how their lives would change. She hoped this mission would go far better than the last.

They finished suiting up and walked to the helm in silence, both focused on their own respective thoughts. They had learned that they didn’t need to ‘shut down’ the link in their minds, but just push it to the side so they could enjoy their own thoughts. They had been playing with their link while they had been waiting for their arrival to Eos and had also learned how to get the others attention when their link wasn’t at the forefront of their minds. It was like a subtle rapping of the senses that drew the others attention to their sibling if they needed to speak privately without drawing attention to themselves.

As they made their way into the front of the ship, SAM announced that they had broken through Eos system of Pytheas.

“It was supposed to be an easy first step…” Kallo said sarcastically. “Until no one showed up and we got clobbered. Twice.”

There was really no way to respond to that, but they were spared as Suvi exclaimed, “Why has SAM altered frequency detection?”

Victoria was confused, what did she mean by that?

“What are we hearing SAM?” Sara asked.

“There is a signal Pathfinder.” SAM stated. “I recommend an immediate examination of Eos.”

Victoria huffed, “ _Duh SAM! We have to work on your Captain Obvious statements._ ”

“ _Don’t antagonize the AI._ ” Sara reprimanded through the link.

They approached the planet after a quick look around the system. It was a rather plain looking planet. Just looking at the surface one could tell it was arid and desert-like.

“A mirror of the signal on Habitat 7. Possible atmospheric manipulation.” SAM announced.

“Is that possible?” Suvi skeptically asked.

Victoria nodded at her. “If it’s like Habitat 7, yes.”

Sara looked grim, “Expect to run into the kett.” She spoke over her comms, “Pathfinder team to the bridge.”

Victoria felt a shiver go through her body. Just like their father…

Liam and Cora, who were accompanying them on their first excursion, spoke over the comms, “Suiting up…” Cora said as Liam followed up with “Ready, Freddy!”

Victoria sighed heavily, “Hope we’re all that ready…”

Sara was talking with Kallo who seemed impressed that SAM had sensed the mystery signal through the clouds and was readying the ship for the approach to the LZ. The Pathfinder had walked to the ship’s console and as they sped towards the planet, Sara seemed lost or like she was straining to hear something very distant.

Liam had just approached however and had said casually that there were a lot of hopes pinned on them. Sara mumbled a quiet, “What?” and Liam repeated himself.

“People were expecting a golden world. Instead, they watched their friends die. Never know how that will affect y…” Liam trailed off and looked at the two sisters in horror. “Sorry… you two feeling ok?”

Sara looked solemnly at Liam, “I think I’m still messed up by what happened to my Dad…”

Victoria reached out for her sister, “There hasn’t been enough time to process it…”

Sara shied away from her and said, “No. I mean. I think I’m still hearing things... other than SAM.” Sara looked off into the window at the atmosphere parting for the ship. Liam and Victoria looked at each other in concern. Victoria wondered if she was experiencing something akin to PTSD. Going back into a situation like on Habitat 7, where she had technically died? Victoria made a mental note to check in with Lexi later. They were disrupted when Kallo announced he had found a landing zone.

Sara shook off her melancholy and determinedly said, “Take us down.”

Victoria felt goosebumps rise along her arms. It seemed she wasn’t the only one as Suvi exclaimed, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted a Pathfinder to say that!”

As the ship descended, Victoria and Sara made their way to the cargo bay where Liam and Cora were waiting by the ramp. Liam threw her a thumbs up and Victoria grimaced at him. Here goes nothing…

_**Minutes later.** _

After a bumpy descent, they finally landed. The ramp lowered itself, and the team made their way out slowly onto the planet’s surface. It was… deserted. Looking around, they had landed in what appeared to be a ghost town. There were buildings and storage crates littering the landscape, but no people. Not a sound was heard, but the whooshing of the hot wind sweeping by them.

“How to even start?” Liam asked aloud. Victoria silently wondered the same thing. This was quite daunting. If their father were here, he would have a plan…

“Reports state this planet suffers deadly storms contaminated by radiation from the Scourge.” SAM said. “Eos deployment was incomplete due to environment hazards and, ultimately, hostile encounters.”

“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” Sara muttered. “Well, they didn’t have a Pathfinder. If Eos is like Habitat 7, that signal we scanned must be connected to the atmosphere.”

Victoria nodded and added, “We could use the outpost’s antenna to track it down. First, let’s get the power back on.”

The team began searching around the outpost, thoroughly creeped out by the dead silence surrounding them. They tried gaining access to a building, but it was locked, and SAM explained there were individual codes necessary to access doors.

Sara groaned, “Just say we can’t open the door without codes.” SAM sarcastically repeated her.

They quickly found the necessary codes and went back to the building. They found out that they needed to power up the antenna if they were to try and find the signal. So much for a quick fix. It also didn’t help that the antenna seemed to be locked down in a nearby power relay. As they made their way to the power relay, SAM warned them that they needed to stay within the perimeters of Site 1, otherwise they would experience the ill effects of the radiation that was wasting the planet. Victoria wondered how they would be able to get any work done. It wasn’t feasible to be able to explore the planet from inside the Tempest, but they also needed to get around. She would worry later, she needed to focus on the task at hand.

The power relay lay on top of a hill and the group trudged towards it, already kind of figuring getting in would be no simple task. That guess was, of course, accurate. A man’s voice sounded from the comms at the door, clearly guessing right that the ship he had heard was not kett.

Sara furrowed her brows, “We thought everyone had gone?”

The man chuckled, “Course you did, now shove off. Find your own salvage.”

Liam raised his gun, as if to shoot the door open, but Victoria motioned him down. Sara continued, ignoring her team, “I’m not a salvager. I’m a Pathfinder. We’ve come to fix all this.”

The comm was silent for a moment, before the man, who introduced himself as Clancy, continued to be unhelpful. Sara tried to explain the situation, but Clancy didn’t seem to be in the mood to be helpful.

“Look,” he said, “I cut the power for a reason. The kett are patrolling today. Turn the power relay back on they’ll know there’s a juicy target down here.”

Victoria jumped in, “Help us with the power relay, and we’ll take care of the kett.”

Everyone waited with baited breath as Clancy weighed his options.

“You’re crazy,” Clancy decisively said, “though maybe it’s a good crazy.” Everyone pat Victoria on the back. “Don’t celebrate just yet, I’ll enable the generators out there. You want to poke the tiger, it’s on you.”

There was a faint humming coming from some nearby machinery and the team went over to them to turn them on. The first went on and no kett rained down on them so they continued. They proceeded to the next one, Cora and Liam went around the Tempest, but it was clear to the sisters that going over the ship was quicker. Kallo was not amused with their shortcut. As Sara turned on the second generator, it was then that Victoria heard the whirring of a ship core. She looked up and saw a kett ship hurtling towards them.

“Those guys don’t play around, do they?” Victoria asked rhetorically as she unholstered her gun. She ducked behind some storage bins and aimed at the kett that were preparing to jump off the ship that was hovering above them. She took a shot and hit one square in the chest before they had even hit the ground. Sara and Liam began to shoot at the kett as they surged forward. The kett were dodging their bullets, but as they dodged, Cora would charge them with her biotics and send them flying. The team took out the kett within minutes and as the last kett hit the floor, they had barely broken a sweat.

Sara looked around, “Hm, they weren’t kidding about the kett.”

Liam gave a lazy stretch, “We wiped the floor with them.”

Victoria high-fived him as they made their way back to the power relay and a much more cooperative Clancy. He apologized for his behavior and left them with the instructions on how to get into a nearby storage unit that had a “big surprise”. Before they could get to their little something out there, Sara activated the power relay.

“Power restored!” Sara exclaimed. “We should have access to everything in Site 1 now. Right, SAM?”

SAM replied, “Correct. Plus, I’ve located the source of the signal we detected in orbit. It’s coming from the large alien structure just beyond Site 1. The structure appears almost identical to the one your father used to adjust the atmosphere on the previous planet. It’s worth investigation.”

Sara laughed, still high on their first success, “That almost feels like a lead. Damn right it’s worth investigating.”

Liam cheered, “Here here!”

SAM halted their festivities, “A warning, radiation levels beyond the perimeter of Site 1 are well above acceptable limits. You cannot proceed without additional protection.”

Victoria interrupted him, “All the more reason to see if that alien structure can make a difference to this planet.” She moved towards the doors and waved the team to follow her. “Come on. I think Clancy might have been hinting at some wheels in that storage unit.”

They all hurried to the large structure and Sara managed to gain access to it after calling down a forward station. The doors opened and a six-wheeled all terrain rover zoomed out. Their comms crackled, and a gasp came through their connections.

“A Nomad! Six wheel drive. Jump-jets. Just what you need!” Gil rapturously said.

Victoria laughed, “Keep it in your pants Gil. Pfft, men and cars, am I right?” she nudged Cora playfully, who just looked at her strangely. She walked over to it and ran a gloved finger along the length of the Nomad. The rover squeaked, and Victoria smiled excitedly at the others.

Liam seemed smitten too, “I might be drooling a bit…”

Sara shook her head and stepped closer to the rover, whose doors whooshed open. They all peered in and looked around the interior with impressed faces.

Sara whistled, “New car smell…”

“Can I drive Ryder?” Liam breathily asked.

Sara looked at him in exasperation, “No. Everyone get in the damn car.”

They all clambered in and Victoria promptly buckled herself in, safety first and all that.

Cora, who sat shotgun, looked at Sara in trepidation, “Ryder… you have a driver’s license, right?”

Sara paused in her inspections of the vehicle and smiled mischievously at everyone in the Nomad, “No…” and with that the doors swooshed closed and Ryder took off, the wheels screeching in protest at going so fast so quickly.

The ride was, bumpy, to say the least. Every small hill Sara took sent the Nomad flying into the air and then landing with hard thuds onto the ground. Sara was concentrating hard, but a manic smile was gracing her face as her second in command grasped the hand rail above her head for dear life. Both Liam and Victoria were laughing wildly as their Pathfinder took wide turns or flew the Nomad into the air. This was the most fun they had had in awhile and they were going to enjoy it. After dropping off a necklace on top of a hill for a man who was at the Nexus, they briefly passed Site 2, but the protocols in place warned of a big danger there, so they side-stepped it and made a note to come back later. Sara made her way into the desert looking for pieces of evidence for the ‘First Murder’ in Andromeda. It didn’t take long for her to find what she needed after eliminating a nest of animals called kaerkyn. Victoria made a note in her datapad that while the first murderer was not guilty of murder, he was guilty of attempted murder which was no better. It was a gray area case and she belatedly wondered if any lawyers had come on the trip with them.

After that task was done, they began to follow the signal that SAM had tracked earlier. They finally came upon the large alien structure whose architecture was reminiscent of the one from Habitat 7, except it was far smaller than the previous one. They all got out of the Nomad, except for Cora who basically rolled out of the vehicle, fear making her legs unsteady and they began to examine the structure. It was empty, except for some supplies that were lying around that seemed to be of Milky Way origin.

Sara made her way to the console and tried to access it.

“It’s working,” she began, but paused in confusion, “but I’m just getting these weird symbols, like glyphs.”

“With more glyphs to expand my database from Habitat 7, I could interface fully with the console.” SAM stated.

Sara nodded and began searching for these glyphs. She jumped from pillar to pillar and scanned around and finally located all the glyphs she needed. Victoria watched her placidly from where she was leaning against one of the pillars, beyond amused at all the jumping her sister was doing. As Sara made her way back to the console, Victoria moved towards her. That’s when they all heard a shout.

“Wait!” a voice cried. A streak of blue and purple hurtled past Victoria and tackled her sister to the ground. Victoria didn’t even think and brought her gun out and aimed it at her sister’s assaulter. An asari had their Pathfinder on her back and was straddling her, keeping her pinned to the ground. Victoria was primed to take this woman out.

“Get the fuck off my sister or I’ll fuck your shit up.” Victoria said menacingly.

Liam and Cora were both aiming at her too, on the edge of blowing this woman away. The asari raised her hands placatingly, “Whoa! Easy. You’ve come this far, just let it ride…” she seemed genuinely shocked at the guns in her face.

Victoria laughed humorlessly, “Still on my goddamn sister.”

Sara pushed the asari roughly off and dusted herself off angrily. The asari stayed on the ground and continued blabbing, “I don’t know how you activated those glyphs, but you have to let them cycle through their channels.” She jumped to her feet and proffered Sara her hand, “I know, who am I? Know who you are, saw the ship swoosh in.”

Sara cocked a brow at her and shook her hand, “Are you for real? You were going to tell us who you are.”

The asari laughed, “I might just be the solution to all your problems.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. She already disliked this person and she hadn’t even known them five minutes. They were interrupted as the pillars came to life and a beam of light lit at the tip of the tower and shot out into the sky.

SAM answered their silent questions, “System has stabilized. I’m establishing a connection.”

The asari suddenly unholstered her weapon and shot over Sara’s shoulder. Her shot connected to a robot that was floating behind the Pathfinder and suddenly they were surrounded by the killer robots that they had seen on Habitat 7. Victoria was shot square in her chest by a red beam of light and was scooted along the ground, the wind slightly knocked out of her. She rolled out of the way of another shot and aimed her gun at a two-legged robot that was gunning for her. She traded multiple shots with the robot before it finally went down in a flurry of metal pieces. The others dispatched the robots quickly and they all regrouped at the center of the alien structure.

Victoria grumbled under her breath, “Fucking robots man…”

The asari seemed impressed however, “Not bad… my first tangle with the Remnant was a lot messier.”

Sara looked at her quizzically, “The Remnant?”

The asari nodded, “These monoliths?” She said in a tone that implied she was stupid for even asking. “The Observer and Assembler bots, they’re all the remnants of something much bigger. But that’s too long, I hate long. So, ‘The Remnant.’ Like my name’s better as Peebee.”

Sara introduced herself in a short tone, “Ryder. You’ve been studying this Remnant technology? What have you learned?”

Victoria shot her a look, “ _Don’t encourage the crazy asari_!”

Peebee ignored the others and focused solely on Sara, “Plenty! Not nearly enough. It’s odd, it uses glyphs, and it’s well-protected.”

Victoria decided to give Peebee a chance, “We saw this tech clear the skies on Habitat 7. We’re hoping it could do the same for Eos.”

Peebee gave her a quick once over and a skeptical look, “Huh. Atmospheric manipulation? Maybe. Fits the model.”

Victoria glared at her and growled through the link, “ _I’m shooting her…_ ”, but said aloud, “No model necessary. It does what we’ve seen it does. So, we’ll just be off…” Victoria spun around and started to walk towards the Nomad.

“Wait!” Peebee called after the group that had began to follow Victoria as well, “All this is connected with the monolith somehow, and now it’s pinging the others. If you wake them up too, they must be able to lead us to whatever master switch might fix the radiation!

Victoria snorted and spun around to address her newest source of annoyance, “You sure it’ll help Eos? Or is Sara just a handy way to get those monoliths online?”

Peebee pretended to by affronted, “I’m a little offended by that little Ryder.”

Victoria looked at her balefully, “Uh huh… so convinced.”

Peebee relented, “Ok, mayyybe. But! We all get what we want little Ryder. Just try, it’s not like we can make this planet worse…”

“It’s Ambassador Victoria Ryder to you.” Victoria interrupted.

Peebee lifted her hands in defense, “Sorry. Geez, your sister’s a touchy one…” she said as she turned to Sara who was just watching in amusement, “Ryder, take my navpoints. I’ll be, well, I’ve got to figure out this interfacing thing.” She sent her coordinates to Sara’s omnitool, and looked at the group in front of her who were looking at her in differing states of annoyance, “And… be careful. You may not like me, but this planet’s all kinds of strange. Can’t be too careful out there.”

With that Peebee walked off and began to fiddle with the equipment that was laying around the site, clearly dismissing them. Victoria rolled her shoulders to ease the tension out of them. She was not looking forward to working with the asari again. The Pathfinder team walked quickly to the Nomad and clambered in. As Sara took off towards the coordinates to another monolith everyone was silent, each stewing in their own thoughts.

Of course, it was Liam who broke the silence, “So, fuck her shit up, huh Ambassador Victoria Ryder?”

“Liam… I have fully loaded gun. Don’t fuck with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.instagram.com/p/BgoAHocH8B9/?taken-by=suminzz - Causual dress!
> 
> http://www.fetish-style.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/00150m.jpg - Remember we're pretending that's armor friends!


	11. Adventure is Definitely Out There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and her sister are on the path to settling Eos, but will they make it out alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The drive to the second monolith was rather uneventful. In a basin below it, they noted that the area was a good place to set a site at. While it was originally passed over due to a heavy kett presence at the nearby monolith, Victoria noted in her datapad that they should revisit the area if they got the planet under their control. They reached the base of the monolith and got out of the Nomad. There were many protrusions sticking out of the monolith and they knew they would have to climb to reach the console. Victoria pouted at the idea of jumping around and the notion of overall exertion, but she needed to be a trooper and do what needed to be done.

They began their ascent up the ledges of the monolith and as they jumped over the final ledge, they were besieged by Remnant that were milling about. It didn’t take long to clear them out and soon they were able to begin reactivating the monolith.

Cora, who had been quiet this whole time, remarked, “We’re getting pretty good at this. Kind of a piece of cake.”

Sara who had just jumped down from scanning a glyph on a pillar smiled at her second. “Easy there Cora. Those are famous last words.”

Peebee, who had somehow connected to their comms, exclaimed, “You did good! Keep doing more!”

Victoria glowered at her comm. She didn’t know why she didn’t like this asari, but there was just something about her that rubbed her the wrong way. She looked over at Cora who was examining a datapad that was left by a technician who had been killed at the site. She liked Cora, respected her. She knew Cora’s heart was in the right place even when they clashed over things like her coming on missions. Maybe she would just get used to Peebee as time went by, it’s not like she was joining the team or anything like that.

She was broken out from her reverie when Cora shouted that a kett drop ship was heading straight towards them. How did these guys keep finding them?

They dispatched them relatively quickly, Liam sustaining a slight bullet graze to the arm, but after the fight they knew they had to keep moving. They made their way back into the Nomad and Sara took off at top speed, careening off the mountain they had been on. Victoria flew up in her seat and landed back in her seat with a heavy thud. She smacked her sister’s arm in retaliation for the bad driving, but Sara just laughed maniacally as she sped towards the last monolith. She was clearly in a rush to get this planet in working order and Victoria didn’t blame her. The others were chatting as best as they could over the rumble of the Nomad’s engine and soon they were driving along a path that was taking them to the monolith. They could see it in the distance and Victoria felt excitement coursing through her veins. They were so close to finishing this. One more monolith.

It turned out that it wasn’t going to be that easy. What they hadn’t seen on the drive up was that the monolith was surrounded by a kett facility. It was reminiscent to the one back on Habitat 7 and Victoria felt her breath falter. She pictured her family flying off the ledge of the facility, encased in a thick white cloud, her father lifeless in her arms. She felt a hand grip her shoulder and shook herself out of her flashbacks. Sara was looking at her in concern. At some point while she had been distracted, Sara had parked the Nomad behind a large boulder that blocked them from view.

“I know Tor… but we have to do this. We’ll be ok as long as we stick together.” Sara reassured her.

Victoria nodded at her shakily.

Liam, who was sitting next to her, gripped her shoulder tightly over Sara’s hand. “We’re all in this together, right Cora?” Cora nodded determinedly. Victoria looked around at her team and smiled at them.

“Aw you guys! Look at us bonding!” Victoria joked. Everyone groaned and jumped out of the vehicle.

“Way to ruin the mood Tori.” Liam grumbled teasingly.

Victoria shrugged as Sara unholstered her weapon and peeked around the large boulder. She looked through her gun’s scope to survey what lay in front of them.

“Yup,” Sara said casually, “Definitely some kett in there.”

Their comms crackled as Peebee’s voice sounded over the comms again, “Those assholes took over my best research site. They won’t let you near the monolith without a fight.”

Victoria mock whispered, “Can I shut these things off?”

Liam and Cora shook their heads at their petulant ambassador, but they were cut off from responses as bullets began to connect to the rock in front of them. It seemed that they had been spotted. The team snapped into combat formation and began to charge forward. It felt like Habitat 7 all over again, so much so that Victoria kept expecting her father’s voice to call out from the front to keep up with him. But there was no Alec Ryder here, they were alone in this chaos and they had to keep pushing ahead. Sara, however, was more than capable. She ducked and dived and aimed at kett. She may have lacked experience, but she more than made up for it in sheer will. Victoria tried to keep up with her and her other squad mates, she aimed at kett that were clumped together to thin them out from overpowering any of her group. Cora was using the full extent of her biotics and was punching her opponents into the ground with massive force. Liam seemed content to throw grenades at the kett and watch them fly into the air and picking them off as they were air-borne. The fight was not long, but it was tiring. After the last of the kett had been picked off, the team leaned heavily against the walls of the walkways to take a moment to breathe.

Sara huffed out a tired breath, “Ok team. Let’s get this planet back online.”

Everyone nodded at the Pathfinder and followed her up the ramps. They weren’t even able to approach the monolith as the kett had raised a barrier to prevent others from being able to access it. To reach it, they had to first gain access to the kett building in the middle of the facility. They turned off a couple of generators that were supplying the building’s power and its own barrier and then walked inside. They walked up to what they assumed was the main console for the research facility, but before they could even begin figuring out how to shut it off they heard a loud and guttural yell coming from behind them. They turned around towards the sound and as they did the large glass pane in front of them shattered and the body of a dead wraith flew towards them, skidding along the ground before stopping a few feet away from them. The team recoiled from the dead animal as blood flew out of its mouth and the tongue rolled out. Right on the heels of the dead wraith, a large and intimidating krogan followed, clearly the killer of the animal. The krogan jumped down from the broken window and marched right towards them. He got right in Sara’s face and growled, “Who are you?”

Sara, however, was still heavily impressed and said, “That was pretty cool…”

The krogan gave a short bark of a laugh and turned to look at his handiwork, “Huh. Well, yeah. Guess it was.” The krogan’s temper flared and the he grabbed Sara’s armor and yanked her towards him, “Still haven’t told me who you are.” He said in a menacing voice.

Sara looked at him steadily and replied, “I’m the Pathfinder.”

The krogan didn’t seem impressed, “Are you now?” He shoved Sara back from him and took a step back to gaze at the group in front of him.

Victoria cleared her throat and spoke to the intimidating krogan, “This is Sara Ryder. Pathfinder to the human ark. I’m Victoria Ryder, the Ambassador for the Pathfinder team to the Nexus and…” she was cut off from her introduction.

“I’m Drack,” the krogan interrupted, “Clan Nakmor. You’ll forgive me if I didn’t just trust a stranger from the Nexus. They haven’t exactly treated us krogan well. What are you doing out here?”

Sara looked defiantly at him before replying, “You’re not the only one hunting kett.”

Drack snorted, “Yeah. Bet you’re mowing down in army in that gear.” He looked pointedly at Victoria who tugged at her armor. Why was everyone so down on her armor dress, it did the job, right? Drack continued his monologue. “Nexus knows shit about the kett. They think they’re safe, but they’re just waiting to die out there in space.” Drack began to gut the wraith and the group watched in horror as he dived into the body, but he ignored them and continued, “I’ve been quads deep on a couple of planets for awhile now. Taking out kett bases. Fighting ground troops.” He ripped a bone out of the carcass and looked at it admiringly, “I know what they can do.”

Sara looked a Drack in disgust and said, “It’s not pretty…”

Liam chimed in, “You know… we could use a krogan like you, Drack…” Victoria glared murderously at him, but Drack didn’t seem to mind the fact that Liam basically insinuated that Drack was only useful as a weapon of destruction.

Drack laughed darkly, “I’m flattered, but do you have any idea how many humans I’ve watched die? You’re meat. You spoil. Besides, the day I help the Nexus again is the day the clouds part and the kett keel over.” He glanced at the group unrepentantly, “No offense.”

Victoria shrugged, “Not much taken.”

Drack nodded once, “Good, because I’m getting bored and the kett are getting stronger. Seem particularly interested in this alien tech.”

“The Remnant?” Sara asked stupidly.

Drack gave a one-sided shrug. “Yeah that. I’m gonna go find more to shoot. Try to keep your head out there.” He said almost kindly and left the group and the very much still dead wraith. Everyone looked around at each other in disbelieving shock, except for Victoria, who was still looking towards the area that Drack had left through.

She nodded her head decisively and declared, “He was nice. I liked him.” She around at her group with the most genuine face and they all looked at her in disbelief.

Sara shook her head, “Yeah he seemed real fun. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

They inspected the facility and looted what they found, which slightly disturbed Victoria but Sara rationalized that the kett wouldn’t need it anymore. They walked into what was being used as an autopsy room and found a dead settler. It appeared as if the kett were, experimenting on him…

“He was tortured…” Victoria breathed in disgust, “The Nexus didn’t mention this…”

Kallo spoke over their comms, “We knew some were lost, we weren’t told they were left.”

Lexi spoke next, “Wonder how many are out there.”

Sara growled, “Too many, Lexi. We need to find them.”

They updated Nexus records and called a recovery shuttle. The man deserved a proper burial and if he had family, the least they could do was to provide them closure. After picking up some kind of component piece from Site 2, they moved on and hurried to the last monolith. Once more, Sara needed to jump around and scan for glyphs. Sara sighed warily and got to work. Now that she knew where the glyphs would most likely be located, it didn’t take long before she began to interface with the monolith’s console. The ground began to shake, and the monolith seemed to be starting up.

“Done!” Sara laughed, “The monoliths are online and connected to… something in the lake?” She looked at the console and the directives it seemed to be giving. “This could be the master switch we’re looking for.”

Peebee’s voice came over the comms, “I’ll meet you there. Don’t do anything without me!”

Victoria huffed agitatedly. “Can’t we just ditch her? We got this!”

Sara just smiled at her and motioned for them to follow her back to the Nomad. They all obeyed, and they hurried to their vehicle, Victoria silently pouting the whole way. They jumped in and Sara sped off. The team were silent, but the excitement in the Nomad was palpable, all of them anxious to be on the precipice of a new discovery but also wondering how this would go down. The last time they had reactivated one of these Remnant structures, it had ended in catastrophe. They all prayed things would go better. They reached the lake and approached the edge of land that met the water. Strange pillars stuck out of the water, but there was no obvious way to get across. The Pathfinder got out of the Nomad and spotted a console by the edge and she activated it. Suddenly a large Remnant structure began to emerge from the water and was soon towering over them. Sara got back into the rover and inched it toward the structure to see if there was any way she could get across and the action seemed to cause a strange bridge to begin to appear. Sara drove closer to it and the front tires drove onto the bridge which in turn caused more bridge to appear. She drove slowly over the extending bridge afraid that if she drove too fast the bridge wouldn’t extend fast enough, but there was no need for worry and soon they were in the middle of the lake and parked in front of Peebee’s shuttle. They all got out of the vehicle and stood in front of the very impatient asari.

“Look!” Peebee exclaimed and pointed down the structure, “A door, let’s go.” She walked ahead of the group seeming to want to take charge. The small group looked towards their Pathfinder, but she merely shrugged and followed along. The doors of the structure opened and they all walked in, immediately engulfed in blessedly cool air. They all looked around impressed, but Peebee was suddenly distraught.

“No. No, this can’t be right. All that fanfare for an empty room?” She said despairingly.

Victoria shrugged, “But it’s a very cool room.”

Peebee just glared at her. “There’s some secret here. There must be!” She whipped around to look at Sara and jabbed a finger at her, “Do your Pathfinder thing!”

Sara rolled her eyes and stepped forward. As she did, a low tremor ran under them and suddenly in the middle of the room, a hole appeared. Sara looked amazed as they all peered down the hole where the bottom couldn’t even be seen.

Peebee looked at her with a smirk, “Oh, you’re good.”

Now that it had appeared, no one really seemed to know what to do. Liam broke the tension with a quiet, “How far down do you think it goes?”

Victoria looked around and spotted a rock, she gently nudged it over the edge. As it began to fall it seemed to be caught in mid-air and began to slowly levitate.

Peebee thought aloud, “That can’t be air pressure. Electrostatic? Ah, gravitation.” she paused, and an idea struck her, “Oh, you idiot, Peebee! That wasn’t the front door. This is!”

Victoria didn’t like the idea of Peebee getting a head start, so she took the plunge. Literally.

“I’ll let you know!” Victoria shouted and mock-saluted her team before jumping over the ledge. She felt a force grip her and hold her steady as she began her descent. She glanced up and saw Sara jumping after her with a look of delight on her face. She laughed as she heard Peebee give an indignant shout of “Hey!” and then she focused her attention at the passing lights as the group made their way down, and down, and still further down.

“It’s acting like a gravity well!” Peebee shouted from above.

Sara yelled back, “But where’s it taking us!?”

Victoria laughed, “Embrace the unknown Sara!”

Peebee laughed too, “Now this is more like it!”

Victoria was having so much fun, she even grinned widely up at Peebee who grinned back at her. How could she keep pouting when they were floating towards an unknown adventure? They finally gravitated downwards into what appeared to be vault. As they approached the floor, the force keeping them from careening down buoyed them up slightly and had them landing gently down onto solid ground. Victoria gave a quick happy dance to try and shake the excited jitters that were coursing through her veins.

“That,” Victoria said lowly, “was fucking amazing! Let’s do it again!”

Sara laughed at her sister’s excitement, but then reined it in. “First things first, lets get down to business Ambassador.”

Victoria shook herself out of it and nodded once at her sister to show her she was serious again.

The group began to investigate their surroundings, with Sara scanning anything of interest. The vault was rather large and there was a lot to look at. They made their way up a ramp that had a console. Sara activated it without a thought for safety, but all it did, according to SAM, was to start a conduit beneath them.

“It could be generating emergency power,” SAM said, “Your scanner will have more details.”

Sara accessed her scanner and found a power line that lead out of the room they were currently in. With her scanner working, they all moved forward, following an invisible trail only their Pathfinder could see. As they approached what they thought was a wall, it descended and revealed another room. Sara hesitated as they all looked forward.

Cora stepped up right behind her Pathfinder and said confidently, “You go ahead. I’ve got your back.” This seemed to give Sara strength and she moved ahead with a determined look. Victoria patted the lieutenant on the back and they all moved forward.

They moved ahead and encountered what appeared to be another gravity well and some sort of device that they had no clue about. Peebee wanted to explore what it could be and moved in the opposite direction of where they needed to go, but Sara was having none of it.

“Whatever has this place on lockdown is that way.” She said as she pointed in the direction they needed to go.

Peebee was determined, however, and countered, “I do my best work solo. You fix up the vault, I’ll investigate the relic, and together we’ll figure this place out.”

Victoria scoffed at her sheer stupidity, “You don’t watch many horror movies, do you?”

Sara followed with, “We have no idea what’s down here…”

Peebee shrugged nonchalantly, “And we never will, if we miss something because we’re huddled in a group. I’ll be careful.”

Sara sighed, clearly worried she would lose someone on her watch, “Just, stay on the radio?”

Peebee nodded and walked off with a casual, “Stay safe.”

The group stared after her in disbelief.

Liam gave a dark chuckle, “Ten credits says she ends up in a pit of spikes.”

Victoria bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. “Liam!” she tried to reprimand, but it was entirely unconvincing as the grin she was trying to prevent escaped.

Sara looked at her two immature squad mates and they shut up. She examined the gravity well, but there was no way through. It seemed that they would actually have to walk to where they needed to go. How lame. Victoria now realized the genius of gravity wells and now wanted them to take her wherever she needed to go. They moved further into the chamber and were in awe. Whoever ad built this place had built it in solid rock.  The technology it would have taken to accomplish this was mind-boggling and Victoria felt trepidation seep into her at the thought of meeting the aliens with such powerful tech. Hopefully they were friendly…

As they moved along, they noted there was some sort of liquid floating at the bottom of the chamber. Sara slid down a slope and stopped at the ledge right before the lake of mysterious liquid. She tried to scan it, but no results were yielded. She shrugged and reached a finger out to touch it. As her finger made contact with it, she recoiled with a hiss of pain. Victoria reached out for her, but Sara shook her away.

“Whatever this liquid is, it may be flowing through the conduit?” Sara began to theorize, “They need a whole aqueduct of it…”

Peebee interrupted through the comms, “Make that two aqueducts, at least. I just crossed one.”

They looked around at their surroundings and noted a door at the far end of the room. The only way to it was to jump across the liquid and onto small platforms that led to the mysterious door. They made there way over carefully, not wanting to land in the liquid beneath them. Victoria almost lost her balance once, but luckily Cora grabbed her forearm and yanked her towards her. Victoria gave her a small smile in thanks and they kept going. They found themselves on a bigger platform and were then suddenly besieged by hostile Remnant. They all quickly unholstered their weapons and fought off the agitated robots. The Assemblers ran every which way and were intelligent enough to be able to know to dodge the groups firing guns. If they weren’t trying to kill them, Victoria would have been impressed at these seemingly sentient robots. After the battle, they cautiously moved forward, keeping their guns out just in case they were ambushed again. They jumped across a small pillar and Sara accessed a console that seemed to do nothing but call a single Assembler bot which Sara shot down easily. Victoria, Sara, and Liam had been so distracted by the Remnant that they hadn’t noticed Cora looking away from them and further into the vault until she exhaled a quiet, “My God…”

Everyone turned to stare out into the vault and were taken aback by the vast size of the chamber they had walked into. This place seemed never-ending…

“All this?” Ryder asked, “All this for an atmosphere processer? What is this place?”

Victoria stood beside her and stared out at the chamber, filled with endless amounts of the mysterious liquid, “More importantly, who built this place and where are they?”

The squad looked around nervously, as if expecting a surprise attack, but none came.

“Let’s keep going.” Liam said quietly, and everyone nodded and kept walking. They came across more Remnant, which they dispatched easily. Victoria looked down and noticed what looked to be roads that kept going further down. Was this place some sort of long lost city? The questions were endless and who even knew if they would ever find the answers. They continued along the winding path that Sara was leading them down and finally came across another door. Before they went through it Sara noticed Peebee on the other side of a great chasm.

“Peebee!” Sara called out.

“Ryder!” Peebee mimicked. “That relic I found? Not a symbol of authority. The Remnant still shoot at me.” Victoria giggled as she continued, “I’ll try it with one of those data patterns we saw.”

Cora finally spoke up, “Is that a good idea?” she called out after her.

Peebee, who was running towards another door near her replied, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!” and then she was gone

Victoria frowned, “That is one crazy asari…” and the group entered through the door they had come across. The room they entered was dark, but as they ventured further into the room, a small pillar of light popped out of the ground and lit the room up.

Sara was slightly impressed, “That’s one way to light up a room…” she paused and studied the light, “You know, the atmosphere processer we found before didn’t need all these steps. Dad just interacted with it directly…”

Victoria replied in a soft tone, “And it didn’t work out too great Sara.”

SAM responded matter-of-factly, “Direct intervention was necessary in that case, but clearly unwise.”

Sara lifted her hands in mock surrender, “Just a thought…”

At the end of the dark corridor there was another door. They walked through it and an odd whirring room filled their ears. They didn’t even have time to question the noise as a beam of energy catapulted towards Liam and hit him square in the chest, sending him flying back into the corridor they had just come from. There was a Remnant turret and several Assembler bots in this new room that put the squad in immediate defense mode. Liam luckily recovered from the attack and sent a frag grenade at the turret which exploded within seconds. The rest of the group took out the Remnant and found a gravity well in the center of the room. Perhaps the Remnant were protecting this place? Sara activated two consoles on opposite sides of the room and the well was activated. They accessed the well and began a further descent downwards.

“Barely any dust,” Cora noted, “How old is this place?”

SAM answered, “Unknown. Radiation counts indicate the vault has been offline for several hundred years.”

Victoria gasped, “Around the time the Scourge appeared?”

They neared the ground as Sara spoke, “That can’t be a coincidence… Maybe the Scourge is why all this tech was abandoned?”

Liam huffed, “Don’t know if it was abandoned just yet, Pathfinder.”

The new chamber they were in was much like the same they had first landed in, but the conduit in here seemed to have sprung a leak.

“Careful! No way you can interface with the console like that.” Cora warned.

Sara, who was examining the broken machine, countered, “And no fluid means no power. Damn it…” she paused and theorized, “Maybe that’s why some of the devices upstairs were turned off?”

Suddenly a voice was calling down to them from a ledge from above. It was Peebee.

“What happened?” She asked. “I can’t get any doors to work.”

Sara sighed and called up, “The conduit’s breeched.”

Peebee thought for a moment before replying, “Wait. The Observers were using weird laser frequencies to fix a broken wall back there. I can send the frequency to your omni-tool. Maybe they can patch up the conduit?”

Victoria cocked a brow at Sara and smirked, “That seems coincidental, but it’s worth a shot.”

Sara shrugged and after Peebee sent the frequency, Sara aimed her scanner at the broken console and scanned it. It surprisingly worked.

“Just a patch job, but it should hold.” Sara said.

Peebee laughed, “Nice work! If it’s fixed, that console should work now!”

Sara interfaced and the wall in front of them lowered.

Peebee gave a triumphant shout and her voice got a bit distant, as if she was walking away.

“Where are you going?” Liam called out to her.

“We’ve got to be close to the system lockdown by now!” Peebee answered as if from a great distance, “First one gets the glory!”

Victoria gaped at the general area Peebee had been. “Like hell Sara! Come on, let’s move!”

They all raced forward and right smack into a room that housed what looked like several types of plants. After accessing a console, they jumped across the newly rising pillars and approached the oddest looking tree.

Victoria huffed a laugh in disbelief. “How can there be plants all the way down here?”

Liam looked at her in mock alarm, “You see them too? Thought all the gravity fun had messed up my eyes.”

Victoria smacked his arm at his silly behavior.

“No sunlight. No water.” Sara said in wonder. “They should all be dead…”

Victoria looked at her sister, “You’re loving this, aren’t you? Is this better than any Prothean dig site you’ve ever been on, huh?”

Sara just smiled at her, and they kept moving across the pillars and taking down the Remnant in their way. She felt like they were really starting to get the hang of all this. After the small battle, they looked around at their handiwork, and Sara gave an encouraging, “Nice work people.” Victoria felt her pride swell a little. Sara interfaced with another console, what seemed to be the hundredth one at this point, and they needed to backtrack to access the path that the power lines led to. As they jumped across to the new platform, Liam almost fell, but Victoria caught him before he toppled over. She could tell everyone was starting to get tired. Who could blame them though? They had been working nonstop for hours now. However, they knew they had to keep going as it was almost over and then they could take a quick break. Another console and more Remnant, a seeming pattern being established.

Sara sighed and looked at the tree they were standing next to. “We’re two gravity wells down already, and this place goes even deeper. I wonder what’s at the bottom?”

Cora answered quickly, “Let’s not find out the hard way.”

Sara walked forward and looked at the console in front of her, as if debating whether she wanted to interface with it or kick it. She chose interfacing and a bridge materialized in front of them and extended the further they walked along it.

“Now that is cool!” Liam exclaimed.

The bridge led to a door and there was a low constant tremor beneath their feet. It seemed like they were close. They opened the door and encountered some sort of energy beam in the middle of the room that was channeling the liquid through it.

“No question, this is the heart of the vault…” Sara breathed out.

They all approached slowly and gazed at this amazing machinery. Sara stood in front of the console that seemed to be the lockdown console. Victoria stood next to her and knew that they were both remembering when their father had accessed the console on Habitat 7. They knew they would need to be cautious, but it had to be done for the good of their people.

Sara reached out and placed her hands gingerly on the gyrating console. SAM began to work and the beam in front of them surged with sudden energy. It flashed a bright red and then vaporized into nothing. They waited with baited breath for a moment, but nothing seemed to be happening. Suddenly some Remnant device came out of the console. Sara picked it up and slowly turned it through her hands. They had no clue what it was, but they would study it later.

SAM announced, “The system lockdown is disabled. The vault, and the atmosphere processor, should return to full operation.”

Liam whooped in joy and high-fived Victoria as Cora patted Sara on the back. Suddenly Peebee’s voice came over the comms, “Ryder? You fixed the lockdown, didn’t you?” She sounded vaguely accusatory, clearly jealous that she had been beaten to the answer to their problem, “The whole place is lighting up. Power readings are off the chart.” She paused, “Like, really, really off the chart…” there was silence on the other end.

Sara didn’t seem to take the hint that something was wrong and began to say, “But it’s back online. We should be good…”

Victoria gasped in horror as behind her sister’s shoulder an awfully familiar cloud of white smoke began to appear. It was Habitat 7 all over again.

Liam panickily started to ask, “Should we…?”

Victoria screamed in terror, “Run!”

They turned around and raced out of the room, the white cloud hot on their heels, disintegrating the greenery as it moved. The squad jumped from pillar to pillar, back the way they came. Remnant jumped out at them, shooting at their heads, but there was no time to shoot back, so they dodged the best they could. Victoria could feel sweat pouring down her temples as adrenaline surged though her body, propelling her to move faster than she had ever moved in her life. They were running for their very lives and were running to escape Death itself.

“I looked back, why did I look back!” Liam yelled.

Sara yelled back at him, “Keep moving!”

They ran into a room that had a gravity well and Sara began to get it going.

“This could go anywhere!” Cora shouted.

Victoria looked at her incredulously, “If it gets us out of here, we’re taking it!”

They shot upwards as the gravity well worked. Victoria glanced down and saw the cloud had entered the room and seemed to search it, as if looking for them. The well took them to the room that had previously had a barrier, but it was gone and revealed a sort of Remnant tech. Sara dived for it as the team rushed to the door they had originally come from.

“Peebee!?” Victoria cried into her comm as Sara ran to the wall in front of them, trying to open it, “Peebee where are you!?”

A figure came hurtling towards them. It was Peebee. She ran towards the others, who were trying to physically lift the door, but it refused to move. The cloud came ever closer and Victoria knew they were about to die. This was the end…

Suddenly, Sara ran out towards a console and began to interface with it.

“Console is attempting surface reconnection.” SAM said.

Sara began to panic as tendrils of the cloud entered the room, “Come on!”

The connection went through, and the cloud suddenly receded back into the recesses of the vault, away from view. An echoing silence filled the room as everyone stared at the now empty vault in a state of shock, all of them surprised to find themselves still alive.

Victoria broke the oppressive silence with a loud “YEAH!” She pumped her fist in the air.

Cora nearly jumped out of her skin and smacked her on the arm, “What’s wrong with you! Every five minutes something’s trying to kill us!” Victoria ignored her, and Liam joined the ambassador in a very enthusiastic happy dance. Sara had sagged against the console in relief.

SAM seemed pleased as well and said, “Vault restart is complete.”

Peebee, for her part, seemed, out of breath, “That was… talk about a rush.” She seemed oddly flustered and Victoria really didn’t want to find out what kind of flustered.

“What was that field, anyway?” Victoria asked.

Sara shrugged, “Might have been sweeping the vault…”

Cora tacked on darkly, “…or chasing us.”

Peebee was shaking her head, before responding, “Maybe more of an immune response? Maybe one last scrub before startup? This place is full of surprises.”

Sara looked around at her team and finally laughed heartily, “Nothing like outrunning death.”

Victoria rolled her eyes at her sister as Peebee chattered on about something.

SAM interrupted them, “Atmosphere processor is online. Recovering last console activity.”

A large holographic map suddenly popped up over the console and everyone looked at it, trying desperately to make sense of it.

Peebee spoke first, “I think that’s the Heleus cluster…”

Victoria suddenly saw it too, “Yeah, yeah it is…”

Sara pieced it together and pointed at a spot on the map. “There we are!” She gazed around the map, “If that’s Eos, then all these points could be vaults on other worlds. Dormant, like this one.”

Peebee sounded skeptical as she replied, “Maybe… but why is there a whole network of them? What’s all this for?”

Victoria folded her arms pensively before responding, “Unless the builder’s show up to explain themselves all we have is guesswork.”

Sara continued on her train of thought and paced around as she spoke, “So far we’ve seen bots, living plants, atmosphere processors. Real sci-fi shit.”

Liam nodded, “Back home, some corporation hit a desert with an ice comet. Changed the atmosphere to bring rain.”

Sara said in wonder, “To help it support life…”

Cora interrupted, “That first processor we saw was making things worse, but maybe it malfunctioned.”

They all looked at the map again, and Sara wondered aloud, “Was that what these builders were trying to do? Make worlds habitable?”

It was Victoria’s turn to look skeptical, “Even terraform a whole cluster? That’s pretty advanced stuff…”

Peebee suddenly noticed something and approached a spot on the map. “Look there.” She jabbed at a spot on the map. “This spot is different. Maybe it’s active. We’ve got to go see!”

Victoria looked at her sharply. “We?”

Sara ignored her and asked for SAM’s opinion.

He took a moment to respond, but eventually spoke, “These coordinates lie beyond the space we have currently surveyed, Pathfinder.”

Sara nodded at Victoria and said, “Mark it on our charts as a top priority. We need more to go on.” Victoria nodded sharply as Sara continued, “Let’s head up to the surface. I could use some fresh air.”

They made their way back to the first gravity well and up they went. They were all quiet as they ascended and reached the top. Victoria wondered what they would find when they reached that active vault, but that would come much later, at least a week. With slight trepidation they made their way to the entrance of the vault and the doors opened to a great wonder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Trying to knock these out as quickly as I can! I'm really hoping this story doesn't go over 35 or so chapters... Hope you all can stick it out with me! Or read it slowly. Up to you! Anyway, I have an idea. I'm not sure how it'll work out, but it's all in my head. I can't wait to get to it... Eek!


	12. True Foundations and A Way Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first outpost under the Pathfinder's belt is up, but now the real adventures beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be going on vacation to Durango to visit family this weekend so that's why two chapters have been pumped out! Plus, Aya is coming up, probably not the next chapter but the following. I'm having lots of ideas coming up and I really want to get them down before I forget them... Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The doors to the vault swished open and the group made their way out into blinding light of day. Victoria shaded her face and let her eyes adjust to the gorgeous starlight, letting it caress her face. Everyone gave a grateful sigh as they all tilted their heads up like flowers starved for attention.

Sara smiled gently up at the beautiful blue sky above them, “Look at that sky…”

Peebee was shocked, “How? No atmosphere processor works that fast?” She was completely dumbfounded, and Victoria smiled smugly at her.

“Well,” she began, “there’s a lot you don’t know.”

SAM teamed up with her, “If this effect is representative, Ambassador, air and moisture patterns will show noticeable improvement.”

The Ryder sisters grinned at each other and said simultaneously, “Eos could support an outpost!” They high-fived each other.

Sara continued, “It’s a foothold. That’s all we need, just enough to begin.” Sara bent down to inspect the ground beneath them, picking up the fine dirt underneath them and examining it between her gloved fingers.

Victoria walked next to her sister’s crouching form and placed a hand on her shoulder, “It’s all thanks to you, Pathfinder.” She knelt next to her to whisper quietly, “Mom and Dad would be so proud…”

Sara looked at her in gratitude and they both stood back up. Sara said softly, “This Remnant technology could be the key to our survival, if we can control it.”

Liam took a step towards the two with a determined face, “You can. Kind of. Still, wouldn’t hurt to find a manual.”

Victoria chuckled, “Since when do we need manuals or brochures, Kosta?”

He laughed as well. Peebee interrupted their powwow. “We’ve got a lead. SAM marked it on the charts down there. That site is active, whatever it is. Who knows what we’ll find there?”

Victoria turned to her with a sour look, “What’s all this we stuff I keep hearing?” She gestured to her team, “WE are a we. You are, well, what was your phrase? You do your best work solo?”

Peebee turned slightly bluer, “Well… I want to know what makes the Remnant tick. The Pathfinder has the key to their technology, or a crowbar, at least.”

Victoria put a hand up to make her pause, “And you have jack shit, so you wanna tag along and mooch off my sister’s hard work.”

Peebee was about to start arguing, but Sara got in between the two women, “Ok, ok, time out! Back to your corners.” Victoria backed off but continued glaring at the asari. Sara took a deep breath and turned to Peebee, “As long as you remember this is my ship and my mission, welcome aboard. We’ll get you a fancy job title to go over your bunk.”

Peebee was ecstatic, “I only need a footlocker! Maybe a datapad, clean underwear. That’ll do!” She jogged over to her shuttle, clearly rearing to go. “I’ll catch up with you! Need to go get my equipment!” With that she started her shuttle and took off. Victoria grimaced at the retreating spacecraft. She didn’t turn to look at her sister who was also watching the ship fly off into the distance.

“I hope you don’t regret this Sara.” Victoria grumbled to her.

Sara shrugged somewhat helplessly, “We need the help with the Rem tech Tor. Maybe she doesn’t know much about it, but at least she’s willing to try. We need people like that on our team.”

Victoria sighed heavily, “I know. I just don’t like the idea of someone riding on your coattails. I’ll work with her fine, just give me a little time to adjust and I’ll be professional.”

Cora laughed as they all began to walk back to the Nomad, “Well,” she said, “This will be interesting…”

As they got in the Nomad, Victoria pulled up her datapad and checked off making the planet viable in her to-do list for Eos. She spoke aloud, “Now we just have to find a good place for the outpost.”

SAM stated, “You already logged an ideal site.”

As Sara revved the Nomad to life, Victoria opened the navpoint she had marked down and sent them to Sara’s navsystem, “Take us there Sara. We need to give the area a proper survey.”

They began to drive as Suvi’s voice came over the speakers in the vehicle, “The Nexus is on pins and needles, Ryder. Pods are inbound and ready!”

Sara accelerated faster towards the navpoints, “Shit! We have to check on that site first! We’re not even close to ready!”

They drove as quickly as they could, but Victoria couldn’t help but note the beauty of the newly restored planet. Without the killer wind and smog covering it, it vaguely reminded her of her old home on Earth. It was so long ago, she wondered what it looked like now…

They reached a cliff that stood above the navpoint just in time to witness a kett dropship dump off kett into the basin. What was strange was that there seemed to be flashes of light, like gunfire, sparking below.

SAM announced, “Kett ahead, they appear to be fighting a krogan.”

Sara leaned over her wheel to squint out and saw the familiar glint of yellow armor, “Is that… Drack?”

There was no denying it, the grumpy krogan was down there and was steadily being surrounded by the kett. Sara flew over the cliff and right smack in the middle of the fight. They all jumped out of the Nomad, guns unholstered, and began firing at the bewildered kett. The krogan gave a hearty deep laugh and said, “About time you joined the party!”

They all began to work quickly to eliminate the kett as another dropship came and brought another wave. This one dropped off one of the larger kett, an Anointed SAM had called it from his translated dictionary, and it began to aim its gun at Victoria. She was ready this time. She dove behind some small Remnant pillars and waited for it to stop shooting at her. When its ammo depleted or started recharging, she wasn’t sure, she unleashed her omni-blade and shot up from her cover. With as much force as she could muster, she drew her arm back and swung it forward, piercing the Anointed directly in the middle of its armor. It tried to stagger free from her melee attack, but Victoria was too fast and forced her arm upwards, slicing the kett through the middle and it slid free from her weapon and fell dead. Drack had seen the encounter and encouraged her loudly, “Good job kid, keep it up!” and then ran off to tangle with a kett in front of him.

When the last kett hit the ground, Drack laughed again and shook his gun into the air in triumph.

“Color me impressed!” He chuckled breathlessly, “That fight was… fun.”

Victoria laughed herself, “You’re telling me.”

Drack clapped her roughly on the back, almost sending her falling to the ground, “You can really handle yourself, kid. Way you chopped up that kett… plus, heard you’re the ones to thank for clearing the sky?” He looked at Victoria and Sara appraisingly, before begrudging admitting, “Had your number all wrong.”

Victoria stuck her hand out for Drack to shake, which he took her up on, while she said, “You’re not so bad yourself old man.”

Sara stood behind her sister and shook Drack’s hand as well, “Maybe we should work together after all?”

Drack seemed to be considering as he said, “This fight was pretty good, but you’re still Nexus and green as a drell.” He paused and made up his mind, “Still, something tells me you’ve got potential. Be a shame to waste that.” He gave a dry chuckle, “I’m in. Just point me to your ship and try and keep up.”

Drack walked off, towards the general direction of where Sara had pointed and disappeared. Everyone was far more thrilled with this new squad mate.

Liam declared enthusiastically, “This is gonna be great!”

They all laughed and walked to the middle of the basin, slowly looking over the area, imagining what a settlement could look like. They all turned to Sara who had her hands on her hips and was nodding her head in seeming satisfaction.

“This is where we’ll build our new outpost.” She said definitively. “A real beginning.”

SAM announced, “Prepping deployment order. You must choose what purpose this new outpost will serve.”

Sara looked at her team in bewilderment. “That wasn’t in the job description!” She turned to look at Victoria and asked, “The Nexus doesn’t get a say?”

Victoria considered her words, “Well, Director Tann and Addison both said that supplies are at a crisis point.” She pulled up her datapad’s stored info on Nexus protocols and read off, “Protocol states this judgement call falls to the Pathfinder whom discovered/discovers a settlement site.” She lowered the datapad and looked her sister dead in the eye, “That would be you Sara.”

SAM tacked on, “With current supplies, you could build a military outpost focusing on defense and militia training.” Sara began to pace slowly as he continued, “Alternatively, a scientific outpost could advance the Initiative’s research and discoveries.”

Sara hummed in thought and then turned to her team for advice, “What do you all think? Military outpost or scientific?”

Cora spoke first, “Pathfinder’s call. But… research is no good if we’re dead. Military.”

Liam shook his head in dissent, “Got to be science. Our colonists need to understand their home.”

Sara turned to her ambassador for her advice, and Victoria haltingly gave it, “Both make good points. You should also note that the first outpost placed by a Pathfinder will be a statement in itself. Do we want to be conquerors? Or scientists, trying to discover our universe? Think carefully Sara. We’re colonists in name, we don’t need to repeat history and have a do over of colonialism.”

Sara began to shake her head frantically, torn between two warring sides. Would she pick the side her militaristic father would have chosen? Or followed the path their mother would have taken, to ensure science would lead. Victoria thought of Addison’s fears of a rise in militarism from Kandros. He would keep them safe, but at what cost? Victoria prayed Sara would take the peaceful route.

SAM spoke softly to her, “Fair or not, your choice will represent the Initiative and its intentions in Andromeda. Consider carefully.”

Sara nodded once, and declared, “Prioritize research and discovery. That’s out foundation and our future.” She looked at her sister for encouragement and Victoria smiled warmly at her sister. This was the right choice. If she could find a way to defend herself out here with no professional training, so would the new settlers.

Victoria typed in the directives into her omnitool and prepared to send them to the Nexus. SAM confirmed preparations and said, “Orders prepped. Ready on your signal.”

Sara nodded, and the orders were sent. Now all they had to do was wait for the outpost to get setup and see the fruits of their labor. The Pathfinder ordered the Tempest to them and as it came into view she smiled at her squad, “Let’s get some rest while they set the place up. Should be about a day or so.”

The team walked into the Tempest, fully ready to rest for the next day and wait for the Nexus to erect their first outpost. Victoria and Sara walked up the ramp of the Tempest after their team, arm-in-arm, feeling on top of the world.

_**2 days later.** _

The team had spent the day lounging about, trying not to peek out the windows of the Tempest to catch a glimpse of the settlement being created just outside their doors. There were loud bangs and people shouting orders to each other, prepping for actual colonists. Victoria had taken to pacing around her quarters while Sara idly watched her. Victoria already had an outfit planned out for the big reveal, there would be pictures and probably a recording of the “unveiling” of the settlement. While Sara had done the groundwork, it was Victoria’s face that be at the forefront, keeping up the image of the daring Pathfinder team. There would be a ribbon cutting and everything and she needed to look good and keep it all professional… which meant hiding Peebee and Drack until she could figure out if they were wild cards or not. Peebee didn’t really care, just waved her off as she kept studying the Rem tech they had collected from the vault and all the data as well. Drack was another story. While he seemed to like Victoria, or, looked at her as less of an idiot as the others, it seemed he was set to a default setting of doing the opposite of what everyone else wanted him to do. He finally relented when Victoria promised the sooner the opening was over the quicker they could leave and find more things to shoot. He was exceptionally pleased, and Victoria gave him some fancy mods for his guns to play with.

Now it was the day of the opening and Director Addison was even scheduled to make an appearance. Victoria checked her hair and makeup again, fidgeting with the hem of her dress. Sara was donning her armor, which was newly polished on her sister’s orders, and was watching her sister in amusement, but didn’t say anything. She could see her sister was in panic mode and knew not to push her when she was in this kind of state. Victoria gave herself a quick once over in their mirror and sighed heavily.

“Let’s get this show on the road I guess…” Victoria said more to herself than to her sister.

Sara just nodded, and they made their way to the cargo bay where the whole Tempest crew waited for them, including Kallo, Suvi, and Gil. Victoria arranged everyone in order of how they should exit the Tempest, as Kallo had glimpsed a drone zooming around the Tempest taking pictures and videos, so the Nexus would get good footage of them. Sara and Victoria took the front of the procession, with Cora right behind and Liam and Vetra flanking her. The rest of the Tempest crew made up the rear and soon they were ready to go.

Victoria took a deep breath and warned them as the ramp descended, “Smile people or at least don’t look pissed off.” They all walked down the ramp and a small crowd of workers, colonists, and even a few Nexus higher ups began to clap as the team came into view. Victoria smiled and waved to those closest to her and the drone they had been warned about came zooming towards them, first inspecting the Pathfinder and the Ambassador, and then moving to the rest. As they walked forward, they caught sight of the outpost and Addison stood in front of it with her arms folded behind her. She didn’t look even the least bit angry this time, whether because she was truly pleased or because there were cameras, Victoria couldn’t say.

Victoria walked a bit ahead of Sara and reached her hand out to shake the Director’s hand, who came forward as well and they shook hands firmly, before she shook hands with Sara and then the rest of the team. The small crowd followed the Pathfinder team and Addison to the front of the outpost, who saw there was a ribbon tied around two rocks, barring them from entering the new settlement.

Addison turned to them and picked up a large pair of ceremony scissors and quietly told them, “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to use these,” before addressing the crowd, “Now for the opening of our settlement, thanks to our own Pathfinder and her brave team. If the Pathfinder and the Ambassador could please take one side each, they will now officially open this outpost for settlement.”

Victoria grinned excitedly and grabbed one side of the scissors while Sara calmly took the other side. Together they both moved the scissors and cut the ribbon as the drone took pictures and video while the crowd of onlookers cheered and whistled.

Addison, with a smile of her own, announced, “I now declare the settlement of Prodromos officially open. Welcome to your new home settlers!”

The crowd moved past the Pathfinder team, some shaking their hands, to go and inspect their new home. The excitement in the air was infectious and the rest of the team, besides Sara and Victoria, joined the crowds in their celebration. They watched their team mingling with the settlers, both overjoyed with how everything had turned out. This really was the beginning.

Addison came over and stood next to them, surveying the festivities with a look of satisfaction. She turned her head slightly towards the two sisters and said, “They’re eager, haven’t seen “eager” for months…” she paused and looked Sara square in the face, “Eos is far from golden, but now it’s a producer. A real and reasonable first step. They think you did the impossible.” She looked off into the distance pensively and continued, “The Nexus… I warned them. Hoping was… irresponsible.” She fully turned towards Sara and stuck her hand out, “You proved me wrong, Pathfinder.”

Victoria felt her heart soar at the peace offering Addison was giving to Sara. It seemed Nexus leadership were finally ready to fall in line behind her sister.

Sara took her hand in a firm shake and solemnly said, “I appreciate your candor. We’re all on the same side.”

Addison gave a dry chuckle and said, “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Victoria raised a brow at that comment. “ _That wasn’t ominous at all._ ” She said through the link.

Sara sent her a slight nod when Addison turned around and walked a few paces ahead of them. She was clearly thinking, and the sisters waited as she collected her thoughts. She turned back around to face them and said, “The reality is Ryders… you all bought us time. But one outpost on a longshot planet won’t stop us from starving.”

Victoria nodded compassionately, seeing that Addison still feared for all their people, “We already have a lead on how to get more outposts going.” She nodded at Sara to explain further.

Sara coughed, “Well, the navpoints from the “vault”. They point to, well, something.”

Victoria glared at her. That would not score the Pathfinder any points with the Director, who was distinctly unimpressed.

“Seems this is where things get complicated,” she sighed, clearly not wanting to give the ok to a mission that may or may not pan out, “Well, the others are ready to officially sanction your efforts. To be a part of your success.” She turned to look sharply at Sara, “We all want the Initiative to succeed. But after failing for so long, no one agrees on how to do it.”

Victoria stepped in, “Director, our Pathfinder and her SAM have a good theory on this navpoint. Give her the chance to see this through and the potential of another settlement opening is guaranteed.”

Addison nodded at her, “Be aware. That’s all.”

Victoria and Sara got the warning. If their lead didn’t yield results, they would never be given the leeway they would need to do what they wanted.

Sara replied defensively, “We didn’t come to a new galaxy to argue about who’s right.”

“It got us this far…” the Director began to disagree.

Victoria cut her off as politely as she could, “On the brink of starvation and with a rebellion under your belts? You need us to make this happen.”

Director Addison made a face of contrite, “You’re right… talk to Bradley, the mayor of Prodromos, Pathfinder. The Ambassador and I need to go over the extended job of Pathfinder.” She nodded to Sara in goodbye and gestured for Victoria to follow her.

The discussion didn’t take too long, Addison merely wanting to impress upon the Ambassador the importance of making sure Sara focused on getting outpost’s up and not chasing phantom hopes. The vaults were an unknown science and were not a complete guarantee of feeding the people. The Director also let her know that with Prodromos up and running, they would need to start waking colonists up to fill the settlement. It would be up to Sara to decide who would wake up before others, seeing as how it was the Pathfinder calling the definitive shots. Victoria nodded and wrote down notes in her datapad, to discuss with Sara at another time. It seemed their meeting was wrapping up and the Director, who would be leaving Eos right after the celebrations were done, was anxious to leave.

Addison concluded with an ominous, “Tann will be waiting on the Nexus for the Pathfinder team. Good luck, Ambassador.”

They bid each other goodbye and Victoria went to find her sister. The Pathfinder was concluding business with August Bradley, who shook Victoria’s hand warmly, and then she and Sara were alone.

“What now, Pathfinder?” Victoria asked cheekily.

Sara laughed, “Well, I did want to explore Eos a bit more…”

Victoria nodded, “That’s fine, probably need to check out Site 2 and see what was going on there. We do need to go to the Nexus before we investigate the active vault. Tann needed to speak with us before we go.”

Sara stopped her feet petulantly, “Can’t we just holocall him?”

Victoria smiled and called the Pathfinder team to them. They needed to get moving before Director Addison’s lukewarm patience ran out. She instructed Liam and Cora to accompany them on their brief excursion through Eos and the rest of the team back to the Tempest. First, she needed to change quickly back into her armor, which she did rather speedily. As she was leaving the ship she began giving a few orders to the crew within.

“We’ll be leaving the planet in 6 hours. Set course for the Nexus and then put on our queue the navpoints to the active vault.” Victoria directed Kallo as he passed. “Gil, prep the ship for a long trip. We’ll obviously have a pitstop at the Nexus, but the Tempest has never gone this far, get her ready.” Gil gave her a mock salute and she smiled at him.

Sara, who had gone to fetch the Nomad, pulled up beside her, Liam, and Cora who were waiting in front of the Tempest for their Pathfinder.

“Get in losers, we’re going monster hunting.” Sara teased.

The team laughed and soon they were climbing up the mountain that led into the basin. Sara spotted a cave and she was powerless to resist the allure of exploring it. It was fortunate that she did go in because inside, kett lurked within. Whether or not they were gathering to take out the brand new outpost or laying low in there, it didn’t matter. The team jumped out of the vehicle, ready to take out the hostile aliens. Sara, who had begun shooting immediately upon exiting the Nomad, shouted.

“Loot from the other outposts… and,” Sara gasped in horror, “An ark escape pod? Where did they get that!?”

Liam answered over his comms, “Doesn’t matter, they’re not keeping it.”

Victoria, who was ducked behind a stalagmite, yelled out, “Clear the kett, then we can get a scan!”

The kett were not willing to give up the pod easily and fought the team relentlessly. It was clear they had plans for the things they had collected, but they were soon quashed by the Pathfinder team. They all ran up a ledge in the cave that led to the pod. Sara scanned it and read the logs that were attached to it. It seemed the kett had found it drifting in space and had brought it to Eos. SAM was unable to find its point of origin, but that didn’t suggest that whatever ark it came from wouldn’t be intact. They could only hope this was the case however.

They left the cave and headed back towards Site 2, where they flew over a cliff and Sara briefly lost control of the Nomad, but then straightened out. She momentarily clutched her head, as if in pain, but waved off her team’s concern.

Through their link she asked SAM, “ _An eidetic trigger SAM?_ ”

SAM confirmed, “ _Yes Pathfinder, though my memory array remains locked. Additional triggers are required._ ”

Victoria quietly said, “ _We’ll need to go back to the Hyperion to check it out. I’ll add it to our own personal tasks._ ”

Sara gave a quick nod towards Victoria, and they kept speeding along, their other squad mates none the wiser to their private conversation. They finally reached the site, called Resilience, and they got out of the Nomad. The site was a complete ghost town, like Promise, but this time… there were bodies everywhere. They had been left out in the dirt and Victoria felt anger coloring her face. The kett had caused this, she was upset that their people hadn’t been collected with the dignity they deserved, but how could they have been when the kett were patrolling these areas?

Sara shook her head as she took the scene in, “Didn’t even finish unpacking…”

Liam crossed his arms, trying to contain his own anger, “Kett were on them from the start.” He spotted a dead turian whose arms were still stretched out in a position that suggested he had died with a gun in his arms, “He died… protecting this outpost. And we left him here.”

Victoria went over to him and grasped his arm in a comforting manner. “We’ll make this right Liam. Let’s get all their info and as much supplies as we can. We can send this to Prodromos, give them as much help as they can.” Liam nodded jerkily at her and they began surveying the area, tagging bodies and storage crates as they moved around. As they were about to walk inside one of the buildings, Sara noticed that a door next to the had been sealed from the outside.

SAM confirmed this, “It appears lockdown was manual before the power restrictions.”

Victoria made a face of confusion, “Why would they do that?”

Liam scoffed, “It wouldn’t keep anything out.”

Sara darkly replied, “But it would keep something in…”

They all looked at the sealed doors in unease. They slowly walked into the building and noticed a flashing computer. Sara shrugged and accessed it. From the sealed off room next to them, there was a low rumble, almost like a motor, but…alive?

SAM said as the rumbling continued, “Pathfinder, a maintenance bulletin was issued at the time of the shutdown.”

They heard the systems coming on and the sealed doors beginning to come back online as Sara shakily asked, “What does it say?”

SAM simply replied, “Run.”

A loud growl resounded from the room next to them and Cora shouted, “It’s a fiend! Override the powerup! Close it!”

They ran out of the building as Cora tried to order the Tempest to them, to save the Pathfinder to their unknown enemy, but it was too late. Sensing the powerup, the kett were inbound and the Tempest needed to stay low. They were stranded and would have to fight their way out.

It was as a kett transport neared, that the team were introduced to exactly what a fiend was. It was a large armored animal, it reminded her of a wraith in its coloring and it began to spew poison at them. The team jumped to the top of the building and began to run to all sides of it as kett tried to flank them from behind. Victoria had never felt more trapped in her life. There was nowhere to duck behind and she could feel her shields beginning to drain as bullets rained down on them. Sara focused her attention on the fiend, knowing they needed to get to cover but would be unable to stop the giant animal from ripping them to shreds if they set foot on the ground below them. With a mighty roar, it finally fell, and the team descended from their perch and were finally able to turn the tide in their favor. After minutes of hard fighting, the last kett fell and the team were safe.

Victoria panted, trying to catch her breath, “I am never, I repeat, never! Dealing with one of those things again!”

Sara nodded fervently, and they tiredly made their way to another part of the site that was now open to them. It seemed Resilience was hard at work on some project called Special Project Sigma. They pieced together component pieces they had found from all over the planet and realized they would need to take it to a research station to see the final result. They called the Tempest to them and boarded the ship with the project in tow. It was finally time to leave this planet.

The Tempest took off, and Victoria barely even waved goodbye to Eos, she was that done with it. After checking in with Kallo and Suvi, Victoria pulled Sara aside.

“Sara,” she started, “I know we’re all tired, but we should probably have a meeting?”

Sara groaned, “Fine…” she pulled up her omnitool and connected to the ship’s comms, “Team, meeting in the conference room in 5. Over and out.”

The sisters walked to the conference room quickly. Everyone else followed and sat or stood around the room. Cora lightly coughed, clearly having something she wanted to say first, “Before we get started, I have bunk assignments for Peebee and Drack.”

Drack interrupted her, “Already put my rucksack in the kitchen. I’ll hang out in there if that’s ok.”

Peebee had already made other plans as well, “And I’m in one of the escape pods. More my speed.”

Victoria was annoyed at them dismissing the lieutenant who seemed unsure of what to say, so she covered for her, “Well, that’s just great.” She said sarcastically, “Welcome aboard. Thoughts, Pathfinder?”

Sara shrugged nonchalantly and said, “We’re adventurers. Whatever makes the squad comfortable is okay with me.”

Victoria glowered at her sister and she threw Cora a dark look, which she returned, both finally in agreement over something. It wouldn’t do for Sara to keep the atmosphere too casual, but the damage was done, and they moved one.

Sara pressed on, “Let’s talk about our success on Eos. Besides getting our first outpost, we did some good stuff.” She began listing off some points, “We discovered the Remnant and breached their vault.”

Liam interrupted, “And didn’t get killed!”

Sara gave him a small smile and pointed a finger at him in acknowledgment, “We overcame radiation poisoning, like a bunch of times.”

Vetra chimed in, “And, again, didn’t die.”

Sara pointed again, “We were confronted by kett at every turn!”

Victoria chimed in herself, “Still alive!”

Everyone was feeling pretty good, when Drack burst their bubble, “You guys really need to raise your bar on what you call success.”

Victoria felt herself deflate. For a team still getting their bearings, she thought they were doing fairly good…

Cora came to her aid when she saw her crestfallen face, “Should we use the krogan definition of success that got your home world nuked by your own people?”

Victoria gaped at the lieutenant’s fiery expression, “Oh shit… shots fired…”

Drack just laughed seemingly indifferent, “Fair enough…”

Victoria grinned at Cora, thoroughly impressed, and Cora looked at her bashfully, seeming surprised by her own brashness. Victoria thumped her chest twice and threw her a peace sign, “Total respect, Harper!”

Sara coughed pointedly, “If we can continue?” everyone quieted down so she could continue, “Let’s look forward…”

Peebee interrupted, “Exactly! Here’s my only question, when do we hit that next vault? It looked active. We have to jump on that, now.”

Victoria growled at her, “Shut it or I’ll go over there and shut it for you…”

Vetra spoke up, “Hang on, let’s not get violent here,” she pointedly looked at Victoria who sulkily backed off, “We need a plan. A real plan.”

Liam continued, “We have Initiative priorities. The team calls the shots.”

Victoria interrupted, “Actually, the Pathfinder calls the shots, just so we’re all on the same page.”

Everyone looked at Sara expectantly, who seemed disconcerted by everyone jumping down each other’s throats. Cora tried to prompt her, “So, what do you need from us, Pathfinder?”

Sara awkwardly said, “Heleus threw us for a loop. We’re all new at this. All of us.” she looked at her sister, who smiled sheepishly at her for her behavior, “So, let’s figure out what the rules are now and try to stick to them.”

The team nodded and began to leave the room. Sara threw her hands up in confusion, “Okay! Let’s head back to the Nexus!” she called after them, “Good meeting!”

She scoffed and turned to her sister, who shrugged at her exasperated expression. “They’ll get used to the order of things. Give it time and more success and they’ll get there.”

Sara rubbed a hand against her forehead, “Let’s just get out of this damn armor. I need a hot shower and a long nap.”

Both sisters left the meeting room and headed to their quarters, ready to hunker down for the trip back to the Nexus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://assets12.modaoperandi.com/images/products/602831/193663/b/large_alex-perry-multi-darby-cape.jpg?_v=1526671162 - Opening day dress


	13. The Race Towards Destiny Itself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and her sister travel farther than anyone else has gone. What will they find when they reach their destination? Some things, well, are just written in the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yessssss, finally! I've been waiting to get to Aya for so long! We're not even on Aya soil yet, I'm so excited! Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The trip back to the Nexus was uneventful. Victoria slept throughout most of it, her body had not been ready for all the exertion she had been through. She didn’t have any scrapes or mars on her person, but she was incredibly sore and bruised. The others, while sore and tired, were used to all the physical aspects of being on the field. Other than resting, they all chatted with one other, the slightly older crew mates bonding with the new members. It was quite nice. Sure, there were some new personalities to contend with, such as interacting with their new and infuriating asari crewmate, but overall everyone seemed to get along pretty well with each other.

When they finally reached the Nexus, Sara changed into her uniform of comfy sweats and Victoria in a cute but professional dress, and they disembarked from the Tempest. The station was quite different from how they left it. When they had first arrived, there were obvious pieces of it still missing, but now, there were crew ships flying around fixing the place up. Inside the Nexus everything was lit up and there were people of all races milling about and chatting with one another. Everything was far from normal, but at least this was the beginning of normalcy.

Victoria had paused at the balcony overlooking the docking bay, after answering questions about Eos, and was taking in her surroundings slowly. This was because of their team and her sister. They were bringing life to Heleus.

“What does Heleus even mean?” Sara interjected, ruining her trail of thought.

Victoria glared at her when she stopped to stand next to her and answered aloud, “Well, this is the Andromeda galaxy. The Heleus cluster is the smaller region we’re in now. It’s like, a small part of one of the hundreds of arms that make up the galaxy.”

Sara nodded, “Science…” she looked out at the small amount of people in the vicinity. “Come on, let’s get this meeting with Tann over with so we can get back out there.” She turned to look at her sister slyly, “Of course, if you want to go see your turian boyfriend first…”

Victoria shoved her away from herself as Sara cackled. “Ok Pathfinder,” Victoria roughly said, “let’s go see the Director. YOU get to do the talking this time.”

Sara gasped in mock terror, “My own Ambassador throwing me to the wolves!? That’s cold.”

Victoria chuckled, and the sisters made their way to the tram and punched in the directives to get to operations. Their time here on the Nexus wouldn’t be long. At least 6 to 8 hours, enough time to see Tann, visit Scott, and get to SAM node… maybe stop for a drink.

Sara coughed, “And see Kandros…”

Victoria made a fist and nearly punched her sister as the two other passengers in the tram stared at them oddly. The tram stopped, and the sisters got out and made a beeline for Tann’s office. Director Addison, newly returned from Prodromos, waved over the balcony of her office space and Victoria gave a wave back. They walked through the doors of Tann’s office and were greeted to a newly renovated space. The receptionist bid them welcome and motioned them to proceed into the room and told them Tann was expecting them.  Sara commented on how last time this was little more than a storage closet.

“Pathfinder hall just needed a Pathfinder to open.” The salarian said before walking back behind her desk.

The sisters walked up the steps and followed faint voices emanating from further within the room. They walked up some stairs and were greeted with the sight of Tann leaning over a desk and a holoimage of Kesh. They were obviously in the middle of a heated discussion, but Tann ended the call when he spotted the two young women.

“Hey Ryders,” he greeted them casually, which set their nerves on edge, “Addison told me about the outpost and sent me the footage, you two are the heroines of the hour.” He sounded so smug about it, Victoria felt her stomach roll at the amount of narcissism coming from him, but she just smiled tightly.

Sara was having none of it and crossed her arms before speaking, “My team worked hard, but there’s still a lot we need to do.”

Victoria loved that her sister was going for humble, but Tann needed to know that she was indispensable and covered for her sister quickly, “Your bet paid off Director Tann. My sister accomplished what no one thought she could or would.”

Tann nodded at Victoria wisely, “Point taken. Always revel in one’s victories.”

Sara snorted, “That’s why I’m standing here, to prove everyone wrong.”

Victoria was about to cover for her again, but Tann just seemed to jump on the Pathfinder’s trail of thought, “Oh, I never doubted you,” he paused, as both sisters mentally rolled their eyes at each other, “it was the others. They don’t share our vision, of a prosperous future for Andromeda.”

Victoria felt a dry heave make its way to her throat, but she recovered enough to faintly say, “A vision all of us can get behind…”

Sara seemed to be in a fighting mood, however, and roughly said, “Due respect, Director Tann, but you don’t know me or my sister.”

Victoria mentally screamed. What was her sister doing???

Tann ploughed through, “Oh, I think I do. Your ingenuity speaks for itself, Pathfinder. Deciphering these alien vaults, innovative terraforming. It’s not how we imagined all this, but a good Pathfinder team improvises.” He pulled up his omnitool and began to type something while saying, “and a great Pathfinder, hangs it on the wall.”

Suddenly, the screens around the room came to life. Beautiful pictures of Prodromos popped up on the screen and even footage of the opening day was on display. Victoria had to admit, she looked extra cute and the team all looked wonderfully professional. Aesthetically, it was all very pleasing and Victoria was begrudgingly impressed.

Tann arrogantly said, “Yours are the first to grace Pathfinder Hall. You’re a symbol now, Pathfinder. A reason for people to believe.”

Sara responded quietly, “I plan on being and doing more than that…”

Tann seemed pleased by this, “That’s the spirit we need, take charge and ignore your critics.”

Victoria was startled by a rough voice saying, “Careful, he’ll end up adopting you, Pathfinder.”

Kandros and Kesh had just walked into the room and Victoria tried to keep herself from melting on the spot. The Commander nodded to her and his mandibles flared into an approximation of a grin before they were interrupted by Tann’s snooty, “Ah, my staff…” and that grin was replaced by a look of utter annoyance.

Kesh scoffed, “Colleagues,” she corrected, “You wouldn’t be looking to cut us out, would you, Tann?”

Tann ballooned up defensively, “I remind you, I am the Director of the Initiative.”

Kandros gruffly corrected him this time, “Acting director.”

Victoria stepped in the middle of the group, raising her hands to try and placate the rising tension between the people gathered. “This isn’t the time to argue over who gets to be king. Too much is at stake right now. We all should be trying to cooperate.” She glanced at her sister to imply she too was included in her statement. Sara just leveled her with a stare. There would be stern words between them later, but Sara would never say anything remotely contradictory that could undermine her sister.

Kesh sighed, “That’s what I’ve been saying since we arrived.”

Tann brushed the superintendent off, “I look forward to winning over the Ambassador and Pathfinder’s support.”

Kandros didn’t seem interested in the politicking and changed the subject, “I have concerns about your decision on Eos, Pathfinder. An outpost full of scientists won’t do us much good if the kett attack…”

Victoria gave him a steady look and replied for her sister, “This is our home Commander. Are we here to learn or conquer it? We need to give our people the chance to thrive here.”

Kesh nodded in agreement, “It will help support the Nexus. Improve our research and help feed our people.”

The Director became annoyed that he was being ignored and interrupted, “And we could argue about it all day long, as we always do. The decision was made, now we move on.”

Victoria agreed with this sentiment and glanced at Kandros who looked thoroughly peeved but held his tongue. Looks like she would need to make a pitstop at his office, if only to make sure she still held his support for the team.

Tann hesitated before asking, “What is the plan for moving on, Ambassador?”

Victoria was surprised he asked her. She wasn’t the person in charge here and she needed to show leadership that Sara was in charge. She remained silent but nodded at her sister in deference to take the lead.

Sara took a deep breath before replying, “We have a lead on the terraforming network. I need to take the Tempest into deeper sectors to investigate.” Sara looked around at the leaders who were paying her attention, but still seemed hesitant to continue. Her eyes met her sister’s and Victoria nodded in encouragement. Sara pressed on, “If the other golden worlds are where they should be, this could get us closer to them.”

Victoria gave Sara a pleased smile, that was a good statement, in no way could it get twisted or manipulated later down the line.

Kandros made a displeased noise and said, “Careful. The kett are scouring the cluster for Remnant tech. You’ll end up in a fight for sure, plus the exiles are still out there…”

Victoria cut off him with a somewhat apologetic look, “And we can handle ourselves, Commander.  This is what are team was made for.”

Kesh stepped in, “Besides that, we still need outposts. They’re important for expansion to the station.”

Victoria smiled tightly, “That will come with the vaults, Superintendent...”

Tann coughed lightly, ready to take his turn at the punching bag, “Though, with the arks missing, this is the perfect opportunity for the Pathfinder and her team to find them.”

Victoria sighed and brought up her datapad and wrote down the three main priorities. So much shit to do, so little leeway to do them in. She glanced up at Nexus leadership, “Anything else? Or is this impromptu meeting adjourned?”

“Yes,” Tann seemed satisfied, “I think that’s all. You have my permission.”

Victoria gave him an affronted look, but Sara spoke first, “We weren’t really asking for it…”

Victoria gripped her arm in alarm, but Tann seemed to be knocked down a peg, “Of course. I support that kind of enthusiasm.”

Victoria squeezed her sister’s arm to keep her silent, “Thank you, Director.” She nodded to Kesh and Kandros, “We’ll be leaving the Nexus imminently and have other matters to attend before departure. Please excuse us.”

With that, Victoria dragged Sara away and out the door. She pulled her to the side of the outside of the arm and yanked her to stand in front of her. Victoria gave her an incredulous look. “What the hell, Sara!? Are you trying to piss Tann off?” She whispered harshly as the commander and superintendent walked by.

Sara merely crossed her arms defiantly, “What’s he gonna do? Fire me? We make the rules out here Tor, not him. They need to bend to us, not the other way around.”

Victoria sighed and rubbed her forehead harshly before replying, “I understand that. But! They also have the means to keep us from doing our jobs to the fullest capacity. Don’t fuck this up for want of keeping your pride! This isn’t about us! This is about doing what’s right for others, putting others ahead of us!”

Sara rolled her head to the side and cracked her neck. She stayed silent as she processed through her sister’s words. “You’re right…” she said haltingly, “I want to keep doing this job. It feels good to do good.” She hung her head, but looked up coyly, “Thank God I created your job all those years ago. Where would we be without you?”

Victoria laughed quietly, “Probably somewhere lost in space.”

Sara laughed, and the sisters hugged each other tight. Just then their comms on their omnitools crackled and Harry’s voice came through, “Ryders? You all here on the Nexus?”

Sara lifted her omnitool to her and replied in affirmative.

Harry continued, “We may have found a way to talk to your brother. Sort of? Drop by when you all can.”

Sara looked at Victoria in mild surprise, but responded, “We’ll do that.”

Victoria gave Sara a confused look, “SAM didn’t say anything about bringing Scott out of a coma, did he?”

Sara shook her head, but shrugged, “We won’t know until we get there. But right now, I need to run some errands. You talk to the higher ups and we’ll meet at the tram in 30 or so minutes?”

Victoria gave a short nod, “Sounds good captain.”

Sara smirked and pushed Victoria on her way. She went back into to Tann’s office, just to see how the Director was feeling after that intense meeting. He, however, seemed fine.

“Part of the job, Ambassador.” He simply said and waved her off. Victoria sniffed in annoyance, but before she could leave he called out to her.

“Ambassador Ryder.” Tann said self-importantly, “One more thing before you leave.” Victoria waited patiently as he seemed to collect his thoughts. “In honor of your sister’s…. efforts. I have decided, along with Director Addison, that we should hold a small dinner when you next return. Preferably, once you return with news from that vault you will be chasing. Inform your sister. That’s all.” He turned away from her and began to fiddle with his omnitool. While miffed by her second dismissal, Victoria was ecstatic about the news on a dinner. She could break out one of her nicer outfits!

With a bounce in her step, Victoria decided that Kesh was the next good place to go. She walked into her office and found Drack in there, laughing with Kesh. Victoria felt mildly surprised but then belatedly remembered that Kesh was Clan Nakmor. After discovering that Kesh was his granddaughter, Victoria felt more at ease. It was nice to have a tie, and a friendly tie, to the Nexus from the Tempest. After promising Kesh that they wouldn’t get her grandfather into too much trouble, but just enough to keep the grumpy krogan satisfied, she left and headed for Kandros’ office.

She peeked her head around and saw that the Commander was in a meeting with some of his militia. She didn’t wish to disturb him and checked her omnitool. It was a good thing he was busy as it was nearly time to meet up with Sara. How time flew. She strolled to the tram where Sara was already waiting. They got in the tram silently and then they were being whisked to the Medbay on the Hyperion.

They walked out of the tram and Victoria made a beeline for Scott while Sara talked to a man near the door. Victoria brushed Scott’s hair fondly, gazing at his unusually peaceful face. What she wouldn’t give to see his infectious smile, hear one of his vulgar jokes.

Sara stepped next to the bed as well and said, “I know… I keep wanting to hear his voice again too.”

“And you can.” Harry replied as he walked over to them and stopped at the foot of Scott’s bed.

Victoria smiled in greeting, but asked, “Harry, what do you mean by that? Scott’s comatose.”

Sara looked grim as she asked quietly, “What’s happening to him, Harry?”

He looked at his datapad before answering, “Well, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but” he cleared his throat anxiously, “SAM, managed to, “find” him, so to speak.”

The sisters looked at him for clarification and he sighed, “Well, he’s still in a coma. But he still has the implant like you all do. And SAM managed to access it.”

Victoria quirked her mouth, “That’s a little pseudosciencey for me.”

Harry chuckled lightly, “You and me both. But SAM, well, I guess supercomputers have a different view of things.”

SAM answered for himself, “Though in a coma, Scott’s mental processes remain the same.”

Sara gave a tremulous sigh, “Is he ok though?”

“Ask him yourself,” SAM replied, “A moment while I establish a link with your implants.” A moment passed, and SAM told them to proceed.

The sisters took a deep breath and Sara spoke through their implant, “ _Scott?_ ” She asked uncertainly. “ _Can you hear me?_ ”

A beat, and then Scott’s voice came through, “ _Sara? Is that you? What’s happening? Where am I?_ ”

Victoria gripped his hand tightly and swore she felt him grip her hand back, “ _Scott, it’s Tori. There was a problem with your stasis pod. You’re… in a coma on the Hyperion. Do you understand?_ ”

Scott sucked in a breath, before responding, “ _I… think so._ ” A pause, “ _Am I dreaming?_ ”

Sara sniffled before answering, “ _SAM linked into your implant. But they say you’re stable._ ”

Victoria brought his hand to her mouth and finished, “ _You’re safe Scott. You’re here with us._ ”

Scott sighed, “ _This is so weird. I hear you, but I can’t feel anything._ ” Sara grimaced, as if in pain, but couldn’t respond before Scott asked the dreaded question, “ _Where’s Dad? Is he doing ok?_ ”

Victoria and Sara looked at each other in horror. How could they tell their brother who was in a coma that their father was dead? He would be stuck in his mind with that knowledge, there was no way they could do that to him.

Sara lied, “He’s good… on a mission… you know how he is.”

Scott chuckled darkly, “ _Couldn’t even find time to stay by my bedside? Figures._ ” Maybe this had been a bad idea… Scott now believed the worst of their father, when in reality, he gave his own life for his daughter. But it was too late now as Scott continued, “ _Well, what about finding a home? Is it as beautiful as Dad made it out to be?_ ”

Victoria covered half her face in horror. Scott just kept asking the wrong questions…

Again, Sara lied, “ _It’s even better. Wait until you see…_ ”

Victoria made a grimace of her own, this was going to bite them in the ass.

Scott sighed in envy, “ _I should be out there with you all…_ ”

Victoria gave his face a gentle stroke, “ _You will… besides. You’re used to being the last one out there between you two._ ”

Scott laughed, but suddenly he gave a grimace and the connection cut off.

Sara looked around in shock, “What happened? Is he ok?”

SAM answered quickly, “The connection was only temporary, his condition remains stable.”

Harry checked his vitals and confirmed SAM’s assessment. “Seemed better than nothing. I’ll keep you both posted. Promise.”

With that, the girls gave Scott one last goodbye and a kiss on the forehead, before they left. Sara was too quiet, and Victoria knew she had to address the elephant in the room.

“Sara…” Victoria started quietly, “What you said. Was that… wise?”

Sara glared at her as they got in the tram to head to SAM Node. “What was I supposed to say Tori? Our Dad’s dead and everything’s gone to hell? Scott doesn’t need to know…”

Vitoria shook her head as they got out of the tram, “I just know this is gonna go to shit…”

“We’ll deal with it then…” Sara interjected angrily, “Drop it.”

Victoria put her hands up in defeat and they walked into SAM Node.

Victoria smiled to try and rid herself of the tension she was holding and greeted SAM, “Hey SAM, ready to look at those triggers?”

Sara butt in, clearly still pissed, “First, Dr. Aridana needed some equations solved for the lab.”

Both Victoria and SAM seemed surprised by her aggressiveness, but he complied, “I’m ready Pathfinder.”

Sara transferred the files and as she was about to access the triggers, SAM became a deep angry red color instead of his normal blue. He began to crackle and said, “Malicious code detected… please stand by.”

Victoria looked around in alarm but didn’t know the first thing about computers. “SAM? SAM, how can we help?” Suddenly a hologram of a person began to run around the room, mimicking using the different computers around the room. Victoria got the hints first, “Sara, I think he wants you to follow what the hologram is doing!”

Sara quickly jumped into action and soon SAM was back under control.

“What the hell was that SAM?” Sara asked.

SAM answered promptly, “The equations contained a Trojan horse program. A virus. Specifically, targeted to sever our connections and render me helpless. Reconnecting would be impossible.”

Victoria gasped, “Are you ok?”

SAM replied as sarcastically as an AI could, “I would not like to repeat the experience.”

Victoria glared at him as Sara began to speculate out loud, “You would need a crack AI programmer to create a virus like that…”

SAM concurred, “Yes. Only my unique adaptions prevented permanent damage.”

Sara sighed unhappily, “I need to have a chat with Dr. Aridana. Tori, stay here. Anyone tries to fuck with SAM, you fuck them up first…”

Victoria nodded unsurely. She was unarmed and had no hand to hand combat experience. She hoped nothing would happen, but one never knew…

It turned out that it was unnecessary. Sara came back from her visit with the asari scientist with news. While the Dr. Aridana had nothing to do with the attack on SAM, it seemed anti-AI sentiments were on the rise on the Nexus. It also seemed that the VI in the docking area had been taken over by an organization headed by a person named Knight. There was no way to hunt these people down and so the sisters knew they had to continue on with life until they contacted them. With that on hold, they accessed the new eidetic trigger. This one showed the introduction of SAM. How he could help Ellen live and overcome her disease… and there was a brief discussion on Ellen’s research on implants and the effects of hypothermic stasis combating the spread of disease. The Theory, as Alec kept referring to the stasis processes, combined with SAM’s interfacing with an implant could treat or at least abate the disease long enough to find a cure.

The memory ended, and Victoria felt her stomach turn. It had been so long since she had thought about the way she had come to be with the Ryder family, it was odd to hear Alec refer to it so casually and talk about attempting to replicate the methods used on her all those years ago. She didn’t blame them from using the science to try and save Ellen, but it was just… weird.

Victoria shook herself out of it when she felt Sara place a comforting hand on her shoulder. They had to go. Her own personal crisis would have to be put on the backburner. There were more important things to attend to, like reaching that active vault.

The sisters walked in silence to the Tempest. It seemed that as time went on, the young women didn’t need to fill the silence with idle chatter anymore. They had been through so much in such a short amount of time, that each other’s company was enough. Before getting on the ship, Sara had an unpleasant introduction to Spender, and had a brief conversation with Kesh and then Kandros, who sent them security footage that was relevant to the inquiries others had been sending their way. Victoria made a mental note to check on them later. With that they went down into the docking bay and boarded their ship. The rest of the team was already on the ship, according to SAM, and Sara sent the ok to follow the navpoint to the vault. As the Tempest took off, Victoria and Sara walked to their quarters.

They walked into their room and Victoria glanced at her bed, wondering if she had time for a quick catnap.

“Approximate arrival in 13 hours, Victoria. There is time for rest.” The little SAM node said on the desk. Victoria smiled gratefully, as she tipped off her shoes and snuggled into her bed, uncaring of her dress and how wrinkled it would get. She would worry about it later, she thought as sleep took her quickly.

**2 hours later.**

Victoria woke form her sleep, feeling groggy and muggy. Worst idea ever. Victoria glanced around the room, but Sara was nowhere to be found. Victoria shrugged and grabbed a change of clothes and brush from her wardrobe and a towel from within. She needed a shower badly. She walked out of her room and into the bathroom next to their quarters and placed her dress and brush on the counter nearest her. She disrobed quickly, turned the water on, and jumped in. The below room temperature water felt gorgeous on her sticky skin. She turned her head upwards and sightlessly reached for some shampoo. That was when the door on the opposite side of the bathroom swished open. Victoria had just started to massage her scalp when suddenly Liam poked his head in. They stared at each other in shock and then reality sunk in.

Victoria did her best to cover herself, thankful her hair was long enough to cover her chest, as she yelled, “LIAM! Get. OUT!”

Liam was so shocked he smacked his head on the wall behind him as he propelled himself backwards. He hid on the opposite side of the wall and called back to her, “Sorry sorry! Didn’t know who was in there!”

Victoria felt off kilter, but timidly began to finish up her shower quickly as she answered back, “So what? Peeking inside was the best idea you had!?”

Liam sighed, and she heard a heavy thud on the wall next to her, “Yeah… that was stupid…” Victoria scoffed and turned off the water. She poked her hand out and demanded, “Hand me my towel you perv.” The fluffy towel was handed to her and she wrapped it around herself, before stepping out to confront her unwitting Peeping Tom. She placed her hands on her hips and Liam’s face turned even darker, his face burning in embarrassment.

He put his hands up in defense, “I really didn’t mean harm, Tori. Forgive me?”

He looked so sheepish, Victoria felt her anger and embarrassment fade, “It’s fine Kosta. Just… don’t stick your head into places they don’t belong. I get this is communal, I’ll just need to be more careful when I need to take showers in the future.” She smiled at him and Liam shoulders sagged in relief.

Liam gave her a mock salute before he turned to leave, but before he did, he turned back to look at her.

“You got a banging bod though…”

Liam was immediately hit square in the chest by Victoria’s brush.

_**9 hours later.** _

After the shower debacle, and Liam getting a scolding from Sara, everyone was getting ready to depart for the vault. Victoria, however, was not. If this planet was like Eos, there would be no need for her to go. Kett and violence were not her area of expertise, so she was staying on the Tempest. In fact, she was currently in her quarters trying on the different dresses she had brought to see what the best option would be to wear at the dinner. It would be an intimate dinner, so the ball gown was out, but it was a dinner for big players, which meant something far above a work dress. She was currently wearing a long evening gown that was good for cocktails, but still formal when Sara walked in. She was still wearing her Initiative sweats and wouldn’t be changing until 30 minutes before planet fall. She gave her sister a quick inspection before nodding in approval.

“Looking sharp, Ambassador.” Sara said.

Victoria flashed her a cocky smile, but before she could say anything, Kallo’s voice sounded over Sara’s comm in alarm.

“Pathfinder, we’re getting a reading from ahead. Come to the bridge.” He said in panic.

Victoria and Sara looked at each other in alarm and both moved quickly. They jogged out of the room, with Victoria trailing slightly behind, her dress incumbering her a bit as she ascended the ladder to the bridge. As they walked into the room, Kallo cried out, “We’re on a collision course with unknown objects.”

Sara ran to her console and said, “Make corrections! SAM? Are you on this?”

“Collision is imminent.” SAM warned.

Victoria grasped the rails of the console as the ship began to shake, “Well, pump the damn brakes!”

They jerked forward as the ship came to a halt… right smack into the largest ship they had ever seen and a whole armada that was accompanying it.

Victoria felt her jaw drop at the sight, “We’re fucked…” she whispered.

Suvi breathed, “Kett ships. At least a dozen…”

Kallo cried out, “They’ve got us pinned against the Scourge!”

“They’re scanning us.” SAM announced a moment later.

Sara looked at the ships in front of them in panic and yelled back, “Well, scan them back!”

Moments passed and suddenly a projection came up. The ugliest kett they had ever come across was on the screen. He surveyed them with a detached air, scanning them with his milky white eyes. Victoria grimaced, but held her ground. She would not show their enemy any fear.

The kett spoke in a gravelly voice, “Where is the one who activated the Remnant?”

Victoria made to step in front, hostage protocols coming to her mind. She knew she would need to take the fall to let Sara have a chance to escape, but Sara spoke first.

“You’re the one in my way! Who are you!?” She growled at him. Victoria grabbed her arm, but Sara shook her off.

“ _Sara! Stop!_ ” Victoria said harshly through their connection, “If this turns into a hostage situation, they need to take me, not you…”

Sara replied quickly as the kett leader spoke, “ _I’ve got this…_ ”

As the rest of the team finally came onto the bridge, Suvi suddenly got a notification on her console saying the kett had locked navigation as Kallo felt the ship being steered into theirs.

Sara finally began to panic, “Just tell me what you want!”

The kett leader sneered at them, “I won’t explain what you can’t understand.”

SAM suddenly spoke through their connection, “Sara, I have almost regained control of the ship. I need a few more seconds…”

Sara looked up quickly at the kett and said, “I actually know a lot about the Remnant. We should…compare notes.”

Victoria mentally groaned, “ _The jokes… do we always have to do the jokes?_ ”

The kett leader grew impatient, “Enough. Your defiance is naïve and reckless.” Victoria sneered at him, but he ignored her, attention focused solely on Sara, “This day marks the beginning of your greatness.”

Before anyone could even contemplate asking what he meant by that, the ship’s systems flared to life.

Victoria asked hopefully, “SAM!?”

SAM responded quickly, “I have plotted a potential course through the Scourge.”

“Do it!” Sara commanded.

The ship jerked forward on her command and they flew beneath the kett armada. Through the Scourge they flew, kett ships right on their tail. They ducked and dodged through the mass of clouds and as they did, kett flew right into them, exploding in brilliant displays of fire. The crew held onto what they could as Kallo navigated them through it all. Victoria flew from side to side of the Pathfinder console’s rails, but she didn’t want to step away from her sister. Sara, for her part, stood valiantly at the front, but rocked forward when a massive impact hit the back of the ship.

“Report!” Sara demanded.

Suvi checked her screen, “Enemy destroyed, but damage to aft sensors.”

Though the Scourge had clipped the ship, the Tempest still moved seamlessly through the clouds. A narrow corridor lay ahead of them, but Kallo sped forward and they cleared it, escaping the kett that were after them. Everyone began to cheer in excitement.

As Sara turned to look at her sister with a grin, Victoria crushed her in a hug and yelled, “That was like… Star Wars or something!”

Sara laughed, but then asked seriously, “Who the hell was that guy though?”

Gil’s panicked voice came through the comms then, “Ryder! We’ve got trouble down here!” Everyone quieted down to hear their engineer, “You need to find us a port now!”

Sara sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration, “Great… Where did we end up anyway?”

Suvi checked her console and responded, “Sensors are damaged, but I think we’re at the vaults coordinates…” 

Victoria roughly said, “You think?”

Sara exhaled heavily, “Well, it’ll do.” She spoke over her comm to Gil, “Gil, give it all you can. We’re setting down.”

It was then that they all saw the planet they were approaching. It seemed as if it had active volcanoes all over it, but other than that it was a beautiful deep red. Even though they had just outrun death again, there was still time to appreciate the beauty of the universe. However, as they entered the planet’s atmosphere they were suddenly accosted by small alien ships. They were not kett however, as the ships were trying to get into contact with them instead of trying to blast them down.

“Open a comm, Suvi.” Sara directed.

As the comm came to life, a strange alien language came over their transmission. The voice continued to say something, but they had no clue what they were saying.

Sara casually said, “Listen. Sorry to just show up like this but, I swear, we’re the galactic good guys.”

Victoria shook her head in frustration. Her sister would be the death of her.

The voice over the comm didn’t seem to mind and said something with a tone that implied they were vaguely amused.

“They’re forcing us to land.” Kallo said warily.

Sara nodded and said solemnly, “Then... we land.”

As the ships and the Tempest made their way down Sara looked at Tori with a serious look. “ _Look, I know what you’re going to say. But you are not coming with me._ ”

Victoria scoffed, “ _This is my territory Sara. I’m going, whether you want me to or not. This is what Dad and I had talked about if anything ever happened. You are far more important than I. If anything happens to me, the mission continues as normal._ ”

Sara wanted to keep arguing, but they were out of time. Though everyone was apprehensive, the planet they were landing on could clearly support life as they approached a very modern looking city. It was all so beautiful… They didn’t have time to fawn, however, as they needed to get out there quickly before the people outside assumed they were mounting an attack. Sara took a deep breath and motioned for her sister to follow her. She put a hand up to stop Cora from following.

“The Ambassador is the only one coming with me. Cora, you know hostage protocol.” Sara said placatingly and then looked around the room. “I’m the Pathfinder, but first contact is on us...” She paused and laughed darkly, “If this goes badly, if we get eaten alive, even if it’s hilarious… please destroy the vids?” Sara threw their team a peace sign and the sisters walked out of the room and down into the cargo room. Victoria could feel the butterflies taking flight in her stomach and wondered if they would get shot as soon as they walked off the ship.

As they stood in front of the ramp and waited for it to descend, Victoria placed a hand against Sara’s chest and said, “This one’s mine, Sara. Follow my lead.” She paused and looked at both their outfits, “Thank God I’m wearing something cute… unfortunately you’re in your jammies…”

Sara looked insulted but then shut up as the ramp slid all the way down. Victoria took a deep breath and put her hands up in a clear sign of surrender and began to walk down the ramp and into the moment where her life would change forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://assets11.modaoperandi.com/images/products/675089/275239/b/large_alex-perry-white-clemence-v-neck-long-sleeve-gown.jpg - Evening gown


	14. When Reality Meets Fairy Tales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and Sara meet their own personal Prince Charmings, but reality never plays nice with fantasy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hi there next chapter! How you doin'? 
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The sisters walked out and were surrounded by a new alien species and were being held at gunpoint. Victoria stepped in front of Sara and motioned for her to follow her. As they made it to the ground the aliens began scanning them and speaking in their native language.

Sara tried to joke, “Should I take off my shoes too?”

Victoria threw her a murderous look and she shut up. Victoria looked at the aliens before them and said a quiet, “Thank you.” She was completely grateful they weren’t shot on the spot. Perhaps peace would work out here?

The aliens gestured their guns to move forward and they were led out of the landing pad and towards a large crowd of these aliens. Victoria looked around curiously, surveying this lush green world. She couldn’t stop the thrill of excitement that shot through her spine as they were led through the city, this was a wonderful discovery and she would do whatever it took for this to go right. In front of the gathered group was clearly the leader of this species and they looked at them calmly as the sisters came to a stop before them.

The alien spoke, and their translators finally started working, “I’m Paaran Shie, governor of Aya. We are the angara.” Victoria was thrilled the governor answered her immediate questions without her having to ask.

She took a step forward and spoke clearly and without fear, “Hello. I’m the Ambassador with the Initiative.”

Paaran nodded, “Yes. You crossed dark space. I’ve heard of your journey.” She turned her head abruptly as another angaran approached. “Jaal. I have this in hand.”

This new alien raised a hand to silence her annoyance and said, “Evfra saw the ship come in and sent me to find out what’s going on.”

This male alien, Jaal, walked down the steps, confidence oozing out of his every move. Victoria, while nervous of this aggressive man, also felt her cheeks flush. He was built like a tank, a very attractive pink tank at that. With broad shoulders, a well-defined torso, and strong legs… what wasn’t there to like? Victoria threw a look at Sara; whose eyes were wide, and pupils blown. Yup, her sister was quite taken too. He was good-looking, but it was clear there was some dysfunction in how Aya was run if two separate groups were trying to gather intel at the same time.

Jaal stood in front of them and crossed his arms, muscles flexing, and Victoria tried not to die as his deep voice said threateningly, “Aya is hidden, protected” he paused, and darkly asked, “What do you want?” He got right into her face and began to crowd her backwards.

Sara placed a protective arm around her sister and moved her closer to her. Attractive or not, no one would ever threaten Victoria without Sara getting in the middle. Sara answered carefully, “We apologize. Landing here the way we did, without warning, and on fire… was not the plan.”

Jaal looked at Sara curiously before the ghost of a smile appeared on his face, “That’s good to know, because if it was, that would be a very bad plan.” He nodded at them and turned back around and made his way up the steps. Victoria threw Sara a pleased look, she did well. He called back to them, “I’ll inform Evfra. He’ll be waiting for you in his office at the Resistance Headquarters. I’ll meet you there.” With that Jaal was gone and the sisters were left bereft. Paaran watched him walk off with a look of displeasure at being cut off, but she said calmly, “I will accompany you through our city. Your crew will stay on your ship. Follow me.” She turned and began to walk away, clearly expecting them to follow her. “Do not wander off or interact with anyone. Evfra’s guards will use force if necessary.”

Victoria grimaced at Sara. This Evfra person must be quite the hot shot if he was the one giving the orders around here. Victoria quietly said, “Understood, Governor Shie. Is it okay to ask you questions?” Paaran glanced back but nodded in affirmation. “If you’re the governor, why do we need to see this “Evfra”?”

Paaran answered, “He’s leader of the Resistance.”

“What’s that?” Sara asked dumbly. Victoria silenced her with a look.

Paaran answered a little sharply, “They fight the kett, and keep us safe.”

They walked in silence for a few moment while Victoria tried to contain her obvious excitement. This really was like Star Wars! There were many anagara trying to get a look at them and she felt vaguely like a zoo animal, but aloud, she lightly commented, “Your city is lovely.”

The governor simply replied, “Thank you,” and stopped in front of a large building. She turned to the sisters and said, “This is the Resistance headquarters. Evfra is waiting inside.” She gestured them forward and Victoria took a deep breath as the doors opened. They walked through and straight into a room filled with many computers, perhaps for tactical purposes. They didn’t have time to get a good look as Jaal walked towards them with a young angaran male. He seemed to be chastising him before sending him on his way. The angara glared down at them but continued on his way. Victoria briefly wondered how tall these people were. Humans typically were taller, but she was literally dwarfed by this species. They must at least be a foot taller than her.

Jaal nodded to them in almost civil welcome and said, “Our experience with the kett makes us naturally distrustful of all aliens.”

Victoria quirked her mouth in sympathy, “We’ve had our own run-ins with the kett.”

Jaal heaved a sigh, “Then, you really do understand.”

Victoria nodded, “We’re new here, but I can only imagine what you’ve been through…”

“When the Archon came to Heleus,” Jaal growled, “he demolished our sovereign state, took what he wanted, as if we were nothing.” He began to become increasingly angry and Victoria had to steel herself to not back away from him. Jaal kept talking, not noticing or caring about her discomfort, “Now, he mercilessly abducts angara. Often, we never see our people again.” Victoria felt her face morph into something akin to empathy. Being taken from the ones you loved? Victoria could understand on a small scale. Jaal shook his head and gestured for them to follow, “Come this way. Evfra’s waiting.”

Now Victoria felt scared. Everyone and everything seemed to need go by this Evfra person. She hoped they passed… They walked into a large room with computers lining the walls. The far wall was made entirely out of glass and held a gorgeous view of Aya’s volcanoes. But what drew Victoria’s view was the angara standing in front of the window. He was blue where Jaal was pink and had a slightly leaner musculature. He seemed to be just as tall as Jaal but was clearly older and far more assured. This man emanated absolute authority, clearly used to being heeded. He was giving out orders to the underlings around him and the angara were jumping to his will. Victoria didn’t believe in love at first sight, but here she was, completely enthralled with a man she had never met and who may or may not be deciding whether she left this planet alive. She looked at Sara, who was still enraptured by Jaal and relaxed; she had Evfra all to herself.

Jaal introduced them, “Evfra, these are the aliens from the Milky Way, an Ambassador…”

Evfra cut him off as he stalked towards Victoria. He gave her a sharp once over and sneered at her title, ““Ambassador”.” He loomed over Victoria, and she felt Sara become agitated as her sister again had her personal space invaded, but Victoria halted her with a cautious hand. Evfra kept speaking, “It was an aggressive move, coming to Aya.”

Victoria calmly responded to him, looking him straight in the eyes, “It wasn’t meant that way. We have an ark full of desperate people counting on us to find them a home before they starve.”

Evfra seemed a little shocked at her vulnerability and answered haltingly, “Of course… I feel for you, and your people.” He shook himself out of his empathy and roughly asked, “So, Ambassador. Never mind how you even found us, why are you here?”

Sara spoke through their link, “ _Lie! Don’t tell him…_ ”

Victoria ignored her sister and went for honesty, “On a hostile planet we call Eos, we, my sister the Pathfinder and I, explored an ancient structure. A vault, we’re calling it, and somehow reactivated it. It stabilized that planet’s environment.”

Jaal spoke from behind her, “Remnant. Recent intelligence supports that claim.”

Victoria continued, “If we’re right, there’s a vault on Aya that’s different. We need to look inside.”

Evfra looked at her before turning away towards the window to contemplate her words, as if wanting to escape her searching gaze. Victoria bit her lip to try and stop herself from drooling at the expanse of his broad back. A ringing laugh sounded through her head and Victoria shoved their link to the side of her mind. Evfra began to speak and Victoria turned her attention back to him, “You’re right.” Victoria and Sara looked at each other in excitement, but it was squashed as the commander kept speaking, “There is a vault out there, but it was shut years ago, and the entrance hidden.” Victoria moved closer to him as he gave her a sidelong look and finished with a quiet, “We can’t help you…”

Jaal cut in, “The Moshae could.” The group turned to look at him, Victoria and Sara hopeful and Evfra in annoyance, “She is our most revered scientist and elder. She knows the vault.”

Evfra verbally smacked him down, “But now the kett have her and our rescue attempts failed. She’s lost to us.” He glared Jaal down, who seemed to wilt under his commander’s gaze, “And to you.”

Sara jumped in then, “Let me show you what I can do. I won’t take a step without your approval.”

Evfra shot her down as well. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He replied angrily, “The angara learned years ago the perils of messing with vaults. So, did the kett for that matter.” Sara looked down, properly chastised. Evfra glanced at Victoria who was studying him carefully. He shook his head, looking away, and gruffly said, “We’re done here.”

Victoria stepped forward to argue, but Jaal came to their rescue. “Evfra. I feel…” he paused to rein in his emotions, “What these aliens are saying is extraordinary. The Moshae would want us to be brave and not let this chance pass.” Victoria and Sara looked between the two angara in interest, seeing which will would prevail.

“Jaal,” Evfra growled and then sighed warily, “You talk too much.” Victoria couldn’t help the slight giggle that left her. Evfra just glanced at her, less than amused at the turn of events.

Jaal kept pressing, “Let me assess these aliens. I’ll be your eyes,” he wheedled, “I know you can spare me.”

Evfra finally conceded to the sister’s delight, “Go if you want. But when she,” he jerked his chin at Sara who gaped in disbelief, “tries to kill you, be prepared to strike first.”

Victoria clapped her hands to try and dispel the tension at that statement, “Well, this has been… interesting. Sara, I need to discuss the, um, representative nature of our new member. Play nicely while I talk with the Commander.” Victoria sent her an imploring look to behave herself, but Sara was busy gazing rapturously at their new envoy.

Evfra stalked to the other side of the room and Victoria trailed after him, opening her notes section of her omnitool. The Commander stood in front of a computer and glanced at her disinterestedly.

“Well, Commander…” Victoria began.

Evfra interrupted her, “What do you want?”

Victoria looked at him in utter disbelief. She understood the distrust, but the animosity was truly unsettling. She tried to stay diplomatic, “I’ll need all the information you can provide to make sure Jaal is comfortable on our ship. I would not want him to become exposed to anything that can harm him, allergen wise.”

Evfra continued to look at her in contempt. He turned back to the screen in front of him and finished doing whatever it was that was distracting him. He turned fully towards her and brought up what looked similar to an omnitool and said, “I’ll key you into my tool. Sending you the necessary files.” With that Evfra seemed to dismiss her, before saying ominously, “I will be receiving detailed reports from Jaal. Nothing will be left out.”

Victoria’s omnitool pinged and she opened it to check and see that it was Evfra’s message. She looked at him and said, “No problem. In fact, I’ll send you anything that will be of interest to you.” She sent him a mockingly serious look. “I look forward to being in… close contact with you Evfra.” She gave him a quick nod, noting the thinly veiled look of shock on his face before walking towards Sara. Jaal had just left to go collect his things and Sara was staring off where he had just been with the most smitten face she had ever seen.

Victoria looked at her in amusement and waved a hand in front of her face, “Ok ok, show’s over.” Sara snapped out of her trance with a sheepish look. Victoria nodded at the two guards waiting for them and they were escorted out of Evfra’s office. Victoria glanced back at the angara who was watching her leave, an unreadable look on his face, before the doors to the office closed, shutting her view off. Victoria was already looking forward to the next time she could see Evfra.

They made their way quickly through the city and back out into the docks, where Jaal was already waiting. Before they left, there were a few angara who wished to speak with them. They split up, Sara speaking with a nearby historian and Victoria spoke to a colony supplier.

The angara started when she approached him as Victoria smiled encouragingly at him.

The angara looked uncomfortable before asking, “Trade?” At Victoria’s confused look he continued, “Trade.” Victoria just stared at him and he grew slightly frustrated. “Traaaade.”

Victoria looked at him in amused exasperation and asked, “Are you asking or telling?”

“Wondering.” The angara said, “Do you exchange goods and services? How does your economy work?”

Victoria considered before answering, “Well, we pay for things with a currency called credits. Abstract wealth.”

The angara nodded, “The kett offered gifts. Made odd bargains. Never traded.” He looked concerned as he asked, “What are your credits worth? What can we do with them?”

Victoria grimaced and answered slowly, “You pay them to us for whatever we’re selling.”

The angara seemed pleased at this notion and said, “Now we open the heart! What do you offer?”

“Well, I don’t offer anything, but” Victoria paused and tried to think, “what do you want?”

“Your ship.” The angara responded quickly.

“Woah woah woah!” Victoria exclaimed and out up two fingers to halt the angara.

The angara laughed and said, “Worth a try…”

Victoria laughed in relief and mild panic. She thought for a second he might be serious, and she might have started a real argument.  “You’re a funny man, good to know.” Victoria breathed in relief. “Was there anything else I could do for you?”

“Yes.” The anagara said and introduced himself as Sohkaa, “I run a cargo between Aya and other worlds. Good work. Good at it. If you’re here to help my people, prove it. I need help.” Victoria pulled up her omnitool to take notes as Sohkaa continued, “One of my suppliers off-world stopped checking in. Has things I need. There could be trouble.”

Victoria nodded as she wrote some notes, “Well, trouble has our name written all over it. Give me the details and I’ll be sure to do whatever it takes to ensure we can do trade.”

Sohkaa gave her the name and navpoints she needed and bid her farewell. Victoria walked back towards the bridge that led to the ship where Jaal and Sara were waiting for her. They were talking quietly, and Victoria caught Jaal’s impressed voice as he said, “Your ship is… we have nothing like it.”

She saw her sister swell in pride as she replied, “Wait til you see the inside.”

Jaal laughed in disbelief, “It gets better?”

Victoria smirked and walked over to them and clapped her sister hard on the back. “Ready to go, Pathfinder?”  

Sara nodded and spoke to Jaal, “Let’s go. I’ll introduce you to the rest of my crew.”

The trio walked out towards the ship and got in. Jaal looked around the cargo bay in amazement as Sara told Kallo to depart from the planet. Victoria smiled kindly at Jaal as he seemed to become slightly overwhelmed at all the foreign things around them. She didn’t know why, but she felt a very protective feeling wrap itself around her heart at the look on Jaal’s face. He seemed completely lost at suddenly finding himself in a completely unfamiliar environment. She understood what he was feeling, having gon through a somewhat similar experience. She let Jaal process for a second while she turned to her sister and quietly said, “We need to get the team to the meeting room ASAP.”

Sara nodded sharply and called for the team to meet them in the conference room in 5 minutes. She walked forward and called the lift down to them as Victoria took Jaal’s elbow gently and put light pressure to signify to follow them. He seemed uneasy at her touch but didn’t argue and soon they were walking out into the research room. Jaal stopped and tried to take in his surroundings as quickly as he could.

Victoria laughed quietly and told him, “Jaal. I’ll give you the official tour later after the meeting and some rest. Promise.”

He nodded hesitantly, and Victoria felt herself melt at his uncertain face. Poor little pink cinnamon bun! She urged him to follow her up the ramp to the conference room and she sat him on a seat in the back of the room as everyone else began to filter into the room. The crew looked at Jaal with undisguised curiosity, but held their tongue as Sara watched them all file in.

When everyone gathered around the holoprojector, Cora was the first to speak, “Just saying, as far as first contact goes, that at least went better than the last one.”

Liam scoffed, “Only slightly!”

Peebee agreed, “Yeah, what gives? I wanted to look around?”

Victoria shot both Liam and Peebee dirty looks as Drack said, “And now we have another mouth to feed. Whatever he eats…”

Everyone turned to look at Jaal, who was staring around at the gathered group with a mixture of suspicion and apprehension. Victoria felt a pang of sympathy for Jaal. Not even on the ship for 10 minutes and they were already rounding on their envoy.

“Do the translators not work?” Vetra asked aggressively.

“They work…” Jaal said simply.

Victoria felt her patience snap, “Come on everyone. Play nicely or I’ll throw you out the airlock myself.”

Drack grunted, “Begging, interesting strategy…”

Sara slammed her hand on the console in front of her and sharply said, “Everyone listen up.” They turned to their Pathfinder in shock. She continued forcefully, “Jaal is a guest here and I won’t have you all ganging up on him.”

Cora tried to steer the conversation back in the right direction, “Ryder, we followed our best lead here and now we don’t even have that.”

Sara sighed impatiently, “Jaal has already offered to do what he can to help us access the vault on Aya.”

Vetra shook her head and angrily said, “How do we do that when we’re leaving the planet it’s on?”

Sara opened and closed her mouth in mild shock, forgetting to consider that. She turned to Jaal and haltingly said, “That’s… a fair point. Jaal?”

Cora finally got fed up and aggravatedly asked, “Seriously?”

Victoria ground her teeth in frustration, but Liam beat her to the punch, “Settle down!” He slammed his fist on the console in anger, “Ryder’s right! There’s an angara right here. Let’s hear from the new guy.”

Again, everyone turned to look at Jaal, who seemed unsure how to proceed. Victoria and his eyes met, and she tried to give him an encouraging look. He got up heavily and came to stand around the holoprojector before speaking. “One day, about eighty years ago, the Archon and the kett arrived in Heleus… and the horror began.” Victoria looked at her sister with an impressed face, Jaal was a great storyteller it seemed.

Vetra, who was staring raptly at the angara, asked, “They declared war?”

Jaal chuckled humorlessly, “Nothing so easy to define or fight.”

Sara added, “The kett kidnap angara, their people disappear without a trace. What if they were us?” She looked around her team imploringly.

Drack answered in an annoyed voice, “Sure, I’ll fight kett all day long, but that’s no plan.”

Peebee spoke up, “I agree. We need to get into that vault, Ryder.”

Victoria derided her, “And that’s not happening. Not until we help our potential allies. We’re not screwing this up.”

“Surprisingly,” Cora said with true amazement, “I’m with Peebee. Our own mission has to take priority Ambassador.”

Sara spoke roughly to her second, “We have a plan…” Sara tilted her head from side to side, “Well, kind of. Pretty solid…” She looked at Jaal beseechingly and asked, “Jaal, please continue?”

Jaal seemed bewildered by all the back and forth but proceeded, “The Resistance is stretched thin. I was tasked with traveling to two of our worlds at our briefing this morning, and you all will accompany me.”

Liam suddenly seemed unsure of their new guest, and asked, “Because…?”

Victoria answered for Jaal, “Because then Evfra will see us as trustworthy. And I’m going to make damn sure that happens, Kosta.”

Jaal nodded, “Trust me, you want that.”

Sara messed with her omnitool and two differing planet’s images hovered in the holoprojector, “Jaal’s told me about these two worlds: Havarl and Voeld.” Sara nodded at him to explain.

“Before the Scourge,” Jaal said slowly, “Voeld was a thriving planet of billions, a shining center of technology and life. Now, it’s the center of our ground war against the kett. Our Resistance base is fighting kett Command for control of the planet.”

Victoria, who had been taking notes down in here datapad, asked, “And the other?”

Jaal studied the planet’s image before replying, “Havarl is the birthplace of the angara. It’s started to degrade, to become wild and dangerous. We suspect Remnant.”

Peebee looked at Jaal with an appreciative look that Victoria didn’t approve of and said, “Now we’re talking…” Victoria would have to nip that in the bud.

Jaal didn’t seem to notice Peebee and continued, “We’ve recently lost contact with our scientists.”

Drack cut him off curtly, “Still don’t get how any of this helps us out?”

Victoria scoffed at Drack, “I know you’re not as near-sighted as you pretend to be, grandpa.”

Cora interrupted the beginnings of their argument, “I do. Help us, or rather, help me, and I’ll vouch for you. Because Jaal wants inside Aya’s vault too.”

Drack shook his head and said, “Pathfinder, it’s your call.”

They all turned to look at Sara for her reaction, though, it seemed their Pathfinder had been busying trying to covertly check out the new member of the crew. She looked around in confusion and said, “Oh! Um, okay… yes. I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

Cora smirked at her and said, “Maybe, optimism, is the better word. You’ll get there.”

Sara stuck her tongue out at her and turned her attention to Jaal, “Give Kallo, our pilot, the navpoints for both planets.” Jaal nodded and sat down, before Sara turned to her crew and uncertainly said, “Well, let’s do this. Meeting adjourned.”

Everyone nodded and filed out of the room. Cora led Jaal to the bridge to give Kallo the necessary coordinates. Victoria and Sara sat on the chairs in the room with twin huffs of relief.

“What a day…” Victoria sighed and closed her eyes as she leaned back into her chair.

“Yeah.” Sara concurred. “Jaal seems nice…”

Victoria opened an eye to look at her sister before smirking, “Jaal is nice. Did you see the play of his muscles? Damn musical…”

“Did you see his legs though?” Peebee said from the corner of the room. The sisters hadn’t even noticed her. “Think he could crack a rock between those thighs.”

Victoria bit back a grin, she had to admit that Peebee was probably right. Sara giggled and said, “His voice too…” She sighed dreamily, “Could do one of those breathing exercises Lexi’s always trying to get me to listen to.” They all laughed, and Victoria got up and stretched.

“Well,” she sighed as her back cracked pleasantly, “I need to change and then I’ll probably go check on Jaal. Need to make sure he’s settled in comfortably.”

Sara looked at her with sharp curiosity, “Because you want to check on Jaal… or because you want to make sure he gives a complimentary review to Evfra?”

Victoria mock gasped, “Sara!? I’m shocked! I would never be thinking something so untoward to non-members of this crew!” With that she coyly waggled her fingers at her sister and Peebee and quickly went to her room to change. With that done, she meandered around to try and locate Jaal. SAM notified her that after seeing Kallo, he holed himself into the tech lab. She reached the lab’s door and felt stupid for trying to decide whether to knock or not. She shook her head and decided to just walk in, hoping she would find their new guest… decent.

He thankfully was and was hunched over a bag and rummaging through it, seeming to be trying to get his things organized. She stopped when she got close to him, but he ignored her presence.

Victoria swayed on her toes and awkwardly said, “Sooo, Jaal…”

He finally stood and responded in kind, “Sooo…”

They looked at each other awkwardly, before Victoria said, “So, we haven’t had a chance to talk alone. Are you, comfortable in here?”

Jaal answered steadily, “I took it. It feels strange to stay with the others,” he paused and uncomfortably said, “They’re, you are… aliens.”

Victoria smiled in amusement, “And you’re alien too. So, there. We have something in common.”

Jaal nodded, “Ah, we can, look at it as a place to start.”

Victoria nodded happily, “Exactly!”

Jaal seemed hesitant as he spoke, “Than perhaps, if we’re all aliens, it’s about what kind of alien we are.”

“You had no idea about us.” Victoria said in awe, “Yet, you signed up to help us anyway.”

Jaal looked at her briskly, “Perhaps… it had nothing to do with you.”

Victoria nodded understandingly, “Of course. I didn’t mean to presume…” Jaal sighed and shook his head, clearly his emotions were trying to make themselves known and he was fighting an inner battle. Victoria didn’t want to push so changed the subject, “So, how do you know the Moshae?”

Jaal replied, “She’s our greatest mind on Remnant. I was her student.”

“Wow, you studied the Remnant?” She asked, somewhat impressed.

Jaal gave a dry laugh, “A little.” He gave another chuckle, as if recalling a memory, “I was terrible. I quit… or, she threw me out. One of those.” Victoria laughed gently at that, as Jaal continued quietly, “We’re still very close…”

Victoria felt another pang of sympathy at Jaal’s sudden gloomy face. This man was too good at pulling at her heart strings. Again, she changed the subject, “So…” she looked around for a topic and spotted one, “Is that your rifle?”

Jaal perked up again as he looked at his gun with pride, “It is now. It’s kett, with my own special modifications.” He looked at her curiously and continued, “I like to tinker, to get my hands on something and… take it apart.”

Victoria felt her cheeks flush. She really hoped that wasn’t innuendo… she cleared her throat and dignifiedly said, “Well, that’s a skill I know my sister could use…” and nearly smacked herself on the forehead. Did she just make an insinuation about her sister? She tried to recover with a playful, “One request? Please don’t take apart my sister’s ship?” She threw Jaal a charming smile as he laughed. Victoria laughed too, feeling the tension beginning to come down even further.

Jaal recovered and cleared his throat, “You’re right. I signed up or, volunteered for this. It’s…” He mentally searched for a word that could encapsulate his feelings, but settled for, “exciting! There’s something unique about you. Raw, but somehow, profound.”

Victoria felt her cheeks pinken and said embarrassedly, “Well, that, sounded like a nice compliment.”

Jaal agreed, “It was. Angara feel deeply. We have more trouble hiding our emotions than showing them.” He paused to look at her, searching for some answer, before concluding, “I should get back to unpacking.”

Victoria nodded, “Of course! Sorry, didn’t mean to distract you. But on our down time, I know I’d love to watch you work!”

Jaal looked at her hesitantly before answering, “Sure, I could show everyone?”

Victoria smiled at him, but an idea occurred to her, “Well, actually I was thinking maybe just you and my sister. She is the captain of this ship and it would be good for you two to spend some… quality time together.” Victoria felt slightly mean for pushing Jaal in this direction, but he seemed innocently receptive to the idea.

“Oh, of course.” He simply said.

Victoria felt like rubbing her hands evilly together as she replied, “Good, good. I’ll let you get back to it…” With that she left Jaal’s newly acquired room and back to her own. She had to talk to Sara.

As she walked into her room, a shoe went sailing in front of her face and towards the desk. A muttered curse made it to her ears and she looked around the room before spotting Sara on her hands and knees, poking underneath her bed. Victoria knew her sister well and knew she was stress cleaning.

“Sara?” She timidly asked. Another shoe came hurtling out from under the bed, though this one came dangerously close to her person. Sara poked her head out from under the bed, but just gave her a disgruntled look. She got up and collected her wayward shoes and placed them near her own wardrobe. She repeatedly adjusted them on the floor before giving up and plopping down on her bed.

“What?” Sara asked sharply when she noticed her sister just staring at her.

Victoria shrugged nonchalantly, and said, “Nothing. Just checking in on you…”

Sara scoffed, “I’m doing just swell. Maybe go talk to your new friend? I’m sure he needs more checking up on…”

Victoria looked at her sister calculatingly before asking, “Sara… are you, jealous?”

Sara threw her hands up in the air and stormed over to their desk, rifling through Dr. T’Soni’s datapads. “Jealous?” Sara snarled at her sister, “Me? Of you?”

Victoria sat on her sister’s bed and patiently waited for her to calm down.  Sara gave up with the datapads and her shoulders sagged. She turned to look at Victoria while leaning against their shared desk.

Sara inhaled and exhaled, before talking to her sister, “Ok. Maybe I’m… a little jealous.” She raised her thumb and pointer finger to mime the little amount. “I just, want to know how you can talk to people you’re interested in with such ease.”

Victoria cocked her head at Sara, “You think I have a thing for Jaal?” Sara opened her mouth to argue but Victoria cut her off, “Sara. I admit, Jaal is handsome, but. I already know how you feel. I don’t need a link to be able to read you like a book.”

Sara hung her head, “I mean, I’m not in love or anything, but. There’s just something about him.  But I know how he feels about you.” Victoria looked at her curiously and Sara admitted, “I was eavesdropping by the door. I heard the tinkering bit, and the compliment…”

Victoria sighed, “Look, you can’t take his comments like that. The anagara are an emotional people. I think, he meant it as an innocuous comment that got twisted by our own cultural references and then he just said something nice. It meant nothing, Sara.”

Sara sighed again, but nodded, “I know. I just, get a little insecure around you sometimes. I know you forget what you look like, but I can’t. I see the way people look at you and sometimes, I wish I had that kind of clout.” Victoria didn’t have any response to that, but Sara just smiled wryly, “Anyway, thanks for putting up with me. I know you don’t really have a huge thing for Jaal…” Sara smiled audaciously at her, “You’re more into the rugged tortured look anyway. Evfra was pretty dashing, if I do say so myself.”

Victoria laughed but agreed, “Honestly?” She felt a silly smile settle over her face, “I’ve never been attracted to someone like him before. It felt like a damn magnet or some sappy shit like that…”

Sara laughed and hopped onto her bed next to her sister, “I saw him checking you out…” she sing-songed.

Victoria felt her heart flutter, but scoffed, “He looked at me like I was a bug under his boot…”

Sara laughed, “Kinky.”

Victoria covered her face in shocked embarrassment. She groaned and changed the subject, “Anyway, where to first, Pathfinder?”

Sara looked at her in mock annoyance, but let the subject go, “First, Havarl. Seems easier.” She checked her omnitool and said, “We should be there in approximately 2 or so days. Loads of time to get to know our new guest…” A thought occurred to Sara.

“Wait, if Jaal’s a guest…. Does that mean I get to hump him???”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.thecoolhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/richards-fw14-2.jpg - Casual lookz.
> 
> Give me feedback people!


	15. Turning Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes it to Havarl and Victoria has an interesting exchange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The trip to Havarl was both unexciting and eventful. The crew and Jaal spent the entirety of the trip walking on eggshells around one another. Walking on eggshells meaning every time Jaal walked into a room everyone in it would fall silent and just stare at the poor angara. Jaal, in turn, would never turn his back to any of the crew, probably fearing a knife would be shoved into it if he even let his guard down for a moment. At some point his paranoia got so bad, Jaal refused to walk straight down a path and preferred to shimmy along the walls if anyone else was walking towards or behind him. Victoria did her best to make him feel comfortable, even taking to shimmying beside him, so he wouldn’t be so embarrassed. He would just throw her a look like she was the odd one here, but she would just shrug and keep talking to him like any of the other crew members. Sara, for her part, went back and forth from exasperated looks to lustful stares. It was definitely… an experience.

The end of the two days was finally near as Kallo announced they would be breaching the Faroang system where Havarl was located. Victoria had never been more excited to be dumped off on a potentially hostile planet. She would take violence over this awkwardness any day. Once she and Sara had suited up, they made their way to the bridge as Jaal spoke over the comm telling them that the navpoints he was sending them to a placed called Daar Pelaav is where they needed to go. Sara and Victoria stopped at the Pathfinder console as the ship breached the planet’s atmosphere. An erratic beep began to sound on Kallo’s console indicating big and potentially hostile anomalies incoming.

“Prepare evasive actions…” Sara began to say, but Suvi cut her off with a rushed exclamation to wait.

As the clouds began to part, they were accosted by large flying animals. It was the space whales from Habitat 7! The Tempest flew through the mass of them and Victoria covered her mouth to hold in her shrieks of terror. The animals were not attacking, but they were terrifying to be next to, though everyone else seemed thrilled to be near such admittedly magnificent creatures.

“Could we, perhaps, get to safer ground… preferably the ground?” Victoria timidly asked.

Sara laughed, but never took her eyes off the animals as she said, “Come on Ambassador. That’s a sight you don’t see back home… They’re amazing…”

Victoria uneasily said, “They are a wonder. Doesn’t mean I want to fly next to them.”

“Ok ok,” Sara kept laughing, “Let’s land this baby Kallo.”

Kallo nodded and began descent. The sisters headed to the cargo bay where Jaal and Drack waited for them. Victoria nodded to Drack who seemed pleased that she had kept her word in finding him a place where he can shoot. Jaal was accompanying them, for obvious reasons which Sara seemed exceptionally pleased at. Victoria had a feeling her sister would be making many excuses for their guest to accompany her on as many missions as she could get away with.

The ramp lowered, and the team made their way out of the ship, where even through their armor, the humidity creeped into their suits. A light fog steamed Victoria’s helmet and she suddenly wished that they had installed mini window wipers in her helmet. SAM took care of it, however, and defogged her and the team made their way forward to the research station Jaal said lay ahead.

They crossed a worn down bridge and made their way into the building where a distraught female angara met them. She seemed pleased to see Jaal however and greeted him warmly.

“Jaal!” she said, “What are you doing here? In the company of…” she glared suspiciously at the other three non-angara, “these people?”

“Kiran!” Jaal happily said, “This is the Pathfinder Ryder and her team, from a long way away.” He gestured for Sara to step forward and continued, “Ryder, Kiran Dals, lead scientist at Daar Pelaav.”

Sara nodded uncertainly at the scientist and Victoria sighed quietly before stepping in front of her sister. She presented her arm which Kiran hesitantly brought her arm up as well as Victoria introduced herself, “Victoria Ryder, ambassador for the Pathfinder team, a pleasure, truly! This planet is a marvel.”

Kiran smiled hesitantly at her as Jaal nodded at Victoria in satisfaction. He kept talking, “Where’s the rest of the team? The Pathfinder and her team have experience with Remnant. We might be able to help their investigation.”

As Kiran explained that that her team was held in some sort of stasis at a monolith, Sara glared at Victoria who looked at her questioningly.

“ _You didn’t have to show me up like that!_ ” Sara angrily said.

Victoria simply replied, “ _I’m lucky you told me how to do the angaran version of a handshake after your blunder with Jaal. Relax. You’re fine._ "

Sara was snapped back to the present when the conversation turned to Remnant with a quick, “I know how to work with these monoliths. Please, let me help.”

Jaal considered Sara as he slowly said, “Ryder has seen a Remnant vault and reset it. Somehow.”

Kiran looked at Sara in distrust, “In an ocean of fish, one will have a gem in its mouth.” She glanced at Victoria and seemed to change her mind. “If you think the alien can help, I’ll set my skepticism aside.”

As the scientist set Jaal the navpoints, Sara pouted slightly and said through the link, “ _Are you the fish with the gem in its mouth or something?_ ”

Victoria quirked a brow at her sister and replied, “ _I’m not sure that was a compliment…_ ”

The group finally finished up and they left the research station and headed towards the monolith. When they broke the apparent safe zone of the research station’s borders, the group unholstered their guns and jumped to the jungle floor. Victoria gazed around in panic as an animal’s cry pierced through the night.

“I’m going to get ripped to shreds out here!” Victoria lamented.

Her comm crackled to life and Liam’s voice reached her ears, “You keep complaining and all the animals will hear you and then you really will be in trouble.”

Victoria looked at her sister in panic and Sara sighed. Drack just chuckled darkly however and said, “Might be right kid. Don’t think the other side of the planet heard all your yapping just yet, but they will.” He stretched his leg impatiently, “Can’t protect you out here though. Plates in my leg are acting up in this humidity…”

Sara rubbed her helmet impatiently and groaned into her comm, “Ok, that’s it. You two, back to the ship. Cora send Vetra to me. She was up on the roster anyway.”

Victoria pouted at Sara, but her sister wouldn’t budge. With a heavy sigh Victoria trudged ahead of Drack back towards the ship. Drack was mutinous and grumbled every step of the way back to the Tempest. Vetra met them halfway and patted them sympathetically on the shoulders before jogging to meet Sara and Jaal. They made it back to the ship where Victoria ran to her room to hide in shame. She had never been so embarrassed. Here she was, experiencing things some people only dreamed about and she was complaining like a spoiled child. Her only consolation was that she had aced their meeting with the lead scientist at the research station. That had to count for something. She sat heavily down at their desk and cradled her head in her hands. Victoria had no idea how long this mission would take, and she didn’t want to distract herself with talking to her other squad mates. How would she pass the time?

Her prayers were answered a few minutes later when SAM interrupted her angst.

“You have new email at your terminal, Ambassador.” SAM calmly said.

Victoria looked at the little SAM next to her but logged into her personal account wondering who could have messaged her. Perhaps Kandros? Maybe Harry? But no. Victoria blinked rapidly at the name on the email’s sender line. It was Evfra. Evfra de Tershaav.

Victoria immediately shut her link to Sara down, lest she hear her hysterical screeching in her mind. She would never have thought to be grateful for being thrown out of a mission before, but here she was, thanking her lucky stars she was alone to read this email in private. It was a short message, to the point. It read:

Mail from Angaran Resistance HQ

To: Ambassador Victoria Ryder

From: Commander Evfra de Tershaav

Word has reached me from Daar Pelaav that you

and your team have avoided being a nuisance.

Ensure it stays that way, Ambassador.

Your sister leaves much to be desired.

 

Victoria stared at the message before snorting in a way she would never have done in public. Who knew the commander had a sense of humor? Anyone else would have taken offense to the very succinct note, but she read between the lines. Evfra may not have been inspired by Sara, but he seemed to be entrusting her with being able to accomplish Jaal’s mission, at least on some small level. Victoria was flattered that he seemed to trust her so early in their relationship. This made her feel all the worst for being a brat. She would make up for her blunder. She had to prove not only to Evfra that she was capable, but also to herself. She opened her link for a moment and tugged at it to get Sara’s attention and to let her know when she was done with the rescue, so they could meet up at the research station after they finished.

Once she sent her message, she closed the link again and contemplated the email again. Should she send a response? Should she keep it short? Should she flirt? Make a joke? She rolled her shoulders to try and ease the tension in them before she began to craft her response.

Mail from Ambassador on Tempest Ship

To: Evfra de Tershaav

From: Victoria Ryder

A pleasure to hear from you commander.

I hope all is well on Aya. Havarl is an

immensely beautiful planet and my sister’s

team and I are honored and excited to be here.

I will make sure the team maintains a professional

and respectful manner while we are guests

here. While I am sure Jaal keeps you well-informed,

I will also be sure to keep you updated on anything

that seems prudent or imperative. I look

forward to maintaining and nurturing a

fruitful relationship between you and me.

 

She hit send before she could overthink it and forcefully threw her head down onto the desktop. Fruitful? Him and I? What the hell? She couldn’t have sent her message less eagerly if she tried. She sent it within five minutes of receiving his message. She was hopeless!

She despaired for what felt like an eternity before she got a ping from her computer. She lifted her head from the tabletop and saw Evfra had replied. It seemed he didn’t get the memo on how to play the game. Though, to be fair, Evfra didn’t seem to be the type to even know the rules or even play the game at all. She skimmed through his message eagerly and, admittedly, hungrily:

Reply Mail from Angaran Resistance HQ

To: Victoria Ryder

From: Evfra de Tershaav

Commander may not be the right word, but I

am the leader of the Resistance. I suppose they are

similar enough the comparison does not matter.

Havarl is the birthplace of the angara, as I’m sure Jaal

has mentioned. It is important that your team continues

to remain under your control. However, my

contacts have also informed me that you are not

with the Pathfinder at the moment. An argument

transpired and if sibling squabbles are interfering with

this mission, I must question my initial prognosis of the situation.

 

Victoria rubbed her forehead in frustration. Evfra beginning to have doubts about her sister and the team was completely out of the question. She needed to minimize the damage. He seemed to appreciate honesty, so she took a deep breath and began to type quickly.

Mail from Ambassador on Tempest

To: Evfra de Tershaav

From: Victoria Ryder

Evfra, allow me to ease your concerns. My

sister and I had a disagreement and we both

decided it would be best if I remained on

the Tempest. Rest assured, I remain in

constant contact with the Pathfinder team

regardless of my current location. Any situation

that may arise will be seen to swiftly and with my

due diligence. You have my word that I will make

sure our joint efforts will not be wasted. Trust is

hard to give and I will not squander the trust you

have placed in my sister’s team.

 

Victoria hit send and waited with baited breath to see if Evfra would reply. Regardless of her silly crush, allies were far and few between and she would rather cut off her own limbs before wasting this opportunity. She nervously drummed her fingers on the desktop, but then decided to answer some emails from the Nexus while she waited for both Evfra and her sister. Tann had sent her novel-sized emails demanding answers to the new allies they had acquired as well as wanting to know if they could settle the planet they had found and were now on. This salarian man was completely insufferable and Victoria longed to tell him to shove it. An amusing thought of Tann and Evfra meeting came to mind and she could just picture the Resistance leader baring down on the Director as he cowered before the intimidating angara. She pictured Evfra’s arms crossed, his biceps flexing menacingly… maybe the lights would be dim, accentuating the scar that led from his strong brow down to his very kissable lips… she would reach up on tiptoes to caress the proud jawline…

The computer beeped and snapped Victoria out of her reverie and she hastily checked the corner of her mouth to make sure she hadn’t been drooling.

“Victoria,” SAM said quietly, “Your heart rate has spiked dramatically. Should I alert Dr. T’Perro about your abnormal heart palpitations?”

Victoria glared at SAM and said, “NO, no. That, won’t be necessary. Um, carry on.”

SAM remained silent, as if giving her an unconvinced look. She ignored the AI and smoothed out imaginary wrinkles from her armor before opening her new email. Evfra’s reply was short, but sweet.

It read:

Personal Email from Evfra de Tershaav

To: Victoria

From: Evfra

My trust is in you and your capabilities.

You will not squander it.

 

Victoria sat back in her chair and grasped at her chest where her heart lay with both hands with the dopiest/silliest smile that had ever graced her face. He trusted her! Yes, it was in her professionalism and it wasn’t personal, but it was a start… Victoria sat forward quickly and archived all their messages. One never knew when one might need a pick-me-up.

As her mind drifted and she floated in a haze of happiness, her link gave a ping. She straightened up her thoughts as best she could before opening her mind to her sister.

“ _Yesssssssssssss?_ ” she asked fuzzily.

There was a pause before Sara responded, “ _Are you on drugs, Tor?_ ”

Victoria scoffed, mind clearing up a bit to answer grumpily, “ _Why is drugs your go to?_ ”

“ _Well,_ ” Sara started, “ _We saw some freaky Alice in Wonderland-y mushrooms… maybe you wanted to let loose...?_ ”

“ _Negative, Captain_.” Victoria sarcastically replied, “ _I am, unfortunately, 100% sober._ ”

Sara chuckled, “ _Good to hear. Get back to the research station. Just don’t make me regret it._ ”

Victoria ran to the cargo bay and told Kallo she was the leaving the ship. She zoomed across the bridge as fast as her jump jets would let her and made it to Daar Pelaav as Sara, Jaal, and Vetra were approaching. She gave them an enthusiastic wave and Sara just shook her head in amusement as they all headed back to Kiran.

Kiran seemed to be busy talking to one of the rescued scientists about gray spikey aliens, from what Victoria gathered from their conversation, before the scientist gasped when he saw Vetra.

“They looked like that one!” The anagara exclaimed.

Vetra just looked at him, unamused, that this man was jabbing a finger in her direction.

Victoria hid a laugh behind a cough before asking the angara, “Turians perhaps? But on Havarl…?” She pulled up her omnitool and scanned her emails to see if Kandros had sent any memos on APEX doing any missions in the area, but there were none. “Pathfinder, we’ll need to investigate the sighting and surrounding area. This may be the turian’s ark.”

Sara nodded in agreement, but Kiran spoke before she could say anything, “Why don’t you and Tovar talk about that later. Right now, I want to thank you for saving my team.” The angaran approached Sara and extended her arm which she clumsily returned. Kiran didn’t seem to mind, probably just appreciating the fact that an alien was trying.

Tovar walked towards Sara, as well, and said, “You weren’t lying. Kiran told us everything. She even had pictures.”

“I apologize for my indifferent welcome you received from me earlier.” Kiran genuinely said.

With the angara, including Jaal, staring at her so openly, Sara retreated into awkward formality and replied, “Well, don’t worry about it. You had no reason to trust me. The last aliens you met were the kett, so…”

Jaal chuckled at Sara’s discomfort, but sobered to say, “Ryder, what you have done here, your Remnant understanding and your SAM, should convince Evfra you’re an asset.” Victoria felt her cheeks flush at the Resistance leader’s name and Jaal glanced at her curiously before continuing, “We should speak to him as soon as we can. Perhaps on the Tempest?”

Sara began to nod, but then looked at her sister regretfully, “As soon as we get to the ship, all three of us will make that call, but first, we need to follow that lead on the turian ark.”

Victoria squashed down her disappointment. Her sister was right after all, their people may need them. She nodded in agreement however and pulled Tovar aside to collect the information the scientist had about the turians he had seen. While he hadn’t seen much, he did send her the navpoints to the general location they had been heading towards. She thanked him for his help and walked to the entrance of the research station where the other three were waiting for her.

“Well, Kiran thinks she has a way we can began to fix Havarl, but it’ll have to wait.” Sara told her sister as she joined her group, “First we need to check on those turians. Then we need to get that conference call with Evfra going.” She looked around at her team to see if they had any issues with her plan before she led them out into the jungle again. As they jumped down from the station Victoria breathed a deep and calming breath. She didn’t know why Havarl put her on edge, maybe that it was a shadowy and looming place. It certainly had a dark beauty to it, but who knew what could be lurking in the trees or in the brush. The team made their way through the wild jungle, keeping their guns unholstered, every now and then a kaerkyn or some animal called a challyrion would jump out at them, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Victoria had feared. Jaal was walking near her, while Sara and Vetra took the front, and he kept glancing at Victoria, as if he had a question but didn’t know how to approach it.

Victoria took pity on him and kindly said, “Jaal, I can hear you thinking. If you have something you want to say, please, tell me. I’m an open-book.”

Jaal looked at her quizzically, “Does your SAM allow you to hear your squad mates thoughts?”

Victoria quirked a brow at him, “No, I just meant that I can see you looking at me. Like, constantly. Either you want to ask or tell me something or there’s a bug on my face.”

Jaal made a face while he considered her, and Victoria waited him out. He gave a quiet sigh and asked, “Ambassador… Your face, went red, when I mentioned Evfra’s name.” Victoria looked straight ahead, fearing Jaal’s retribution. What if he found her crush on his boss disgusting? What if he TOLD Evfra? Goodbye professionalism… Jaal continued speaking, “Ryder’s face went red when she was angry at the monolith where the scientists were in stasis. Evfra, is, a hard man to get along with, but if we want cooperation between our two species, I feel, it would be wise to look past…”

Victoria stopped in her tracks and just stared at Jaal who realized he no longer had a small human by his side. He looked at her with a wary eye, as if he was afraid she was going to blow up on him. Victoria just gave a laugh in disbelief. “You think, I don’t like him? That’s what your question is?” Jaal nodded slowly and Victoria walked back to his side and they continued forward. “No Jaal, I don’t not like Evfra… kind of the opposite…”

“Ooh…” Jaal quietly exhaled.

Victoria grabbed his arm and forced him to walk facing her now, “You can’t tell anyone Jaal, not Sara, not Lexi, or your mom! No one!”

“Why not?” Jaal asked curiously, “Should Evfra not know?”

Victoria gaped at him incredulously and stopped again, keeping Jaal’s arm in her grasp. “No! ESPECIALLY, not him. This is an intergalactic secret. You gotta pinkie promise me man!”

Jaal shook his head in disbelief, “Are all humans so repressed? It would be better to have your feelings out in the open. This is, key to living a happy life.” He paused and looked at her face, and seemed to give in. “Alright. I’ve never held such a big secret before. I’m not sure if I will be able to contain it.”

Victoria exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and gratefully said “Thanks big guy, you’re the best.”

Jaal gave her a small smile and they continued walking. Jaal gave a small humph, before asking, “What is a pinkie promise?”

Victoria laughed and held out her hand with a pinkie extended, “Kind of like a symbolic act you do with someone else to signify a pact being made and sealed. You interlock pinkies and promise to keep whatever secret or deal you make, shake the pinkies, and the deed is done. Pretty childish, but it gets the message across.”

Jaal held his gloved hand up, and wiggled his fused fingers at her before chuckling, “We angara do not have pinkies.”

Victoria giggled and reached her pinkie towards his fingers and wiggled it at him, to signify to bring their fingers together. He carefully wrapped his fused fingers around her delicate digit and Victoria curled her pinkie in his grasp. They gently shook fingers and Victoria declared in mock solemnity, “The deal is sealed. May our bond grow ever stronger.”

Jaal looked at her with a thoughtful face, before quietly saying, “Yes, I hope so too.”

They were interrupted when Sara called them over to a forward station she had just activated. She looked between them suspiciously before telling their group that they were nearing the navpoint Tovar had given them.

Jaal nodded and said, “We must watch out for Roekaar. Angaran fanatics that hate aliens.” He gave them all a somber look, “That means you all.”

Victoria sniffed daintily, “They sound lovely.”

Sara just nodded and motioned for them to keep moving. Everyone was quiet now, listening to the muted chaos of the jungle around them. They made their way to a small corridor and began to hear the telltale signs of a fight going on. They jogged towards the sound and came upon a turian camp that was being attacked by a group of angara, the Roekaar according to Jaal. They wasted no time in taking down the fanatics, where even Jaal assisted. Victoria briefly wondered how Jaal could attack his own people, but perhaps she could ask him about it later. They defeated the first wave of Roekaar but were soon besieged by reinforcements. These were highly skilled fighters, luckily, they had turians on their side and soon the second wave was out down.

Victoria heaved a sigh of relief as the appointed leader of the group, Avitus Rix, came over to their group to thank them. The turian was very handsome, with a gorgeous rough voice. He kept talking as Victoria tried to pay attention, “Sorry if my methods seem extreme. Civilian life is… trying.” Victoria nearly swooned. Troubled, handsome, and military? Like catnip for the Ambassador.

Sara just glanced at her sister as she replied to Avitus, “Sara Ryder. Human Pathfinder. You former military?”

Avitus nodded and answered, “A Spectre. Special tactics and Reconnaissance. Did the Council’s dirty work for 15 years.”

Vetra scoffed, “So, you’re used to being above the law?”

“Good thing there are no laws in Andromeda, huh?” Avitus sarcastically shoot back before continuing, “The Initiative was my retirement plan. Then Natanus hit the Scourge, and bam. Woke up here.”

That did break Victoria out of her stupor, “What happened? Where’s the ark?”

Avitus’ head lowered in sorrow as he said, “No idea… Had to break out of my own damn stasis pod.”

“Fall like that should have killed you, not to be morbid.” Sara said.

Avitus chuckled dryly, “Those pods are sturdier than they look. Most of the turian population is still missing, including Macen, our Pathfinder.” He became quiet as he finished, “SAM hasn’t transferred to me, so he’s alive. Just don’t know where….”

A lightbulb went off in her head, and Victoria mentally connected the dots. So, the turian Pathfinder and Avitus Rix, ex-Spectre running from his past. This was better than a telenovela!

Sara gently said, “SAM Node could have been destroyed on impact with the Scourge…”

Avitus glared at her sister angrily, “I’d know if he died. Macen dedicated his life to Andromeda. He’s too stubborn to die now.”

Victoria looked at him sympathetically, “We need every Pathfinder we can get.”

Avitus looked at her gratefully before collecting himself, “Debris and stasis pods from the Natanus are scattered across this sector. Between me and your team, we should find something.”

Victoria snickered, “You go left, we go right?”

He chuckled too, “Something like that.” He pulled up his omnitool and began to type, “Here’s my frequency. Call if you find something?”

Victoria nodded, and the team made their way quickly back to the Tempest. As the ramp descended and Jaal and Vetra walked into the ship Sara nudged her sister on the arm.

“Just wanted to give you a head’s up that I found another eidetic trigger at the camp.” Sara quietly told her sister.

Victoria smiled happily, “That’s great Sara!” but paused when she saw her face. “You don’t look so happy though.”

Sara sighed and gestured for them to board the ship. They walked to their room to change out of their armor while Sara gave Kallo the ok for takeoff. Victoria waited quietly as her sister gathered her thoughts.

Sara sighed and leaned against their desk, before allowing her sister into her thoughts. “I feel, like, you want to climb all over every new person we meet.” Victoria opened her mouth to protest, but Sara held a hand up to stop the onslaught. “I know that isn’t your intention. We just had this conversation. My point is, you’ve been a little boy crazy since we’ve arrived, and I just want to understand.”

Victoria sat on her sister’s bed and breathed in a sharp breath, “Is it a problem for me to start verbalizing my thoughts? I just want to be normal Sara. Any other girl our age would be having the same reactions as me. I’m not being overt, I’m not flirting on missions. If I’m not doing my job, tell me.”

Sara shook her head, “No, you are doing your job. I just wonder where this is all coming from.”

Victoria began to take off her armor as she thought of her response. She didn’t know why she had started to be more verbose in her appreciation for other people’s forms. In the Milky Way, she had been quieter in her regard for others, but here? It was different. “I guess, I just want to be as normal as we can be, given the situation.” Victoria began haltingly, “I want to be able to gossip with my sister. Talk about all the cute boys and girls we meet. Does that, make you uncomfortable?”

Sara sat next to her sister, “No. I guess not.” She sighed and rubbed her sister’s shoulder comfortingly, “I’ve been forgetting our age. You do deserve to ogle all the fine specimens out there. I’m just not used to you saying it out loud, but I’ll adjust. It’s pretty cute to see you blush and try to keep your composure.” Sara laughed, and Victoria couldn’t help but join in. “Bet you’ll lose your shit at some point. Guaranteed!”

Victoria pretended to be affronted, “Sara! I am nothing but a professional!”

The sister’s shoved at each other and changed quickly. Sara went for a casual top and pants while Victoria wore an extra cute dress for no particular reason and if anyone questioned her she would fight them.

As they entered the conference room, Sara called Jaal to them and Victoria began to set up the call. She could feel her hands slightly shaking as the call began to be patched through. When Jaal walked in, Victoria went to his side and pressed near him for support. Jaal just looked down at her with a faint smile of amusement as Sara looked on with a look of both bemusement and slight jealousy. The call went through and suddenly a hologram of Evfra appeared in all his full grumpy glory. Victoria tried not to turn to mush.

Sara stepped forward and greeted him, “Commander, good to see you.”

Evfra gazed at Sara disinterestedly, “Pathfinder.” His gaze moved to Victoria and he nodded civilly to her, “Ambassador.” Victoria nodded back with what she hoped was a polite smile. Evfra continued, “Jaal’s been keeping me updated on your “adventures”, Pathfinder. On all your “good deeds” on our behalf.”

Victoria felt her smile turn into a wistful one, even his sarcasm did it for her. Sara did not seem so taken and irritably replied, “I meant them. I want you to know you can trust me.”  Victoria grimaced at her wording. She forgot to mention her emails with the anagara.

“You rescued the scientists at Daar Pelaav. They are an asset to the Resistance.” Evfra agreed, but then came down hard on her sister, “But your true agenda is clear, to explore Aya’s vault. Jaal says you want to help find the Moshae. Why should I let you?”

Sara began to struggle to find a satisfactory answer when Victoria stepped up. Over the link she quickly said, “ _I got this._ ” Out loud she said, “Evfra, if I may be so bold? My sister and I’s personal code is “We got this”.” She held his gaze with as much confidence as she could summon. She hoped he valued her candor.

Evfra made a noise of interest and replied, “Bold. A little arrogant. Like me.” He nodded his head in appreciation and Victoria felt her face flush at the Resistance leader’s approval. Evfra turned his attention back to Sara and said, “Still, I’ll reserve judgment for now.” Victoria inclined her head to Evfra as he continued, “We’ve managed to trace the Moshae to a special kett facility on Voeld.”

Sara nodded, “Our ship is en route to Voeld now, but why is this facility special?”

“These facilities are protected by a dynamic shield we haven’t been able to crack.” Evfra responded. “We’re close, but its ability to adept outstrips the speed of our current processors.”

SAM spoke to the sister’s privately, “ _Pathfinder, adding my processor to their program would no doubt make the difference._ ”

Sara nodded firmly and declared, “Evfra, I can help. Respectfully, this time you need my help.”

Evfra looked completely offended at Sara’s gall and harshly said, “Respectfully, the angara don’t need anything from you. We take care of our own.” His accent was deliciously accentuated in anger, but this was no time for fainting.

Sara meekly replied, “Well, I meant our scientists could help…”

Victoria nudged her roughly and spoke through their link, “ _SAM could help. I’m gonna be honest._ ”

Sara widened her eyes, “ _Tor, no! That’s an order._ ”

Victoria ignored her and said to the aggravated anagara, “Evfra, with the processing power of our AI, I can guarantee the shield breach.”

Sara grimaced as Evfra digested this new information. Victoria knew, however, that this was the right move. Evfra did not let her down and said slowly, “AI? Of course… That makes sense.” Victoria glanced at her sister in triumph but turned back to the commander before Sara could say anything.

Victoria resumed, “As SAM is physically connected with Sara, she needs to go. And, well, I want to go as well.”

Evfra considered her for a long moment and Victoria held her ground before he nodded in acceptance, “It was risky to be honest about your AI, and honesty sets you apart from the kett.” Victoria smiled happily at him and he dropped his gaze down before training his eyes back on Sara, “You two are welcome on the mission.”

Sara sighed in relief, “Thank you.”

“The team will meet you at our base on Voeld. They’ll take you to the kett facility.” Evfra paused and looked back at Victoria before saying, “Stay strong and clear. Goodbye.” With that the call ended and Victoria felt her shoulders sag in relief. They were on the path to a good alliance with the anagara.

Sara turned to look at her sister with her arms crossed. Jaal looked between the sisters and bid them a hasty goodbye, clearly not wanting to be in the fight that was about to ensue.

Victoria looked at her sister steadily and nonchalantly asked, “What?”

“Don’t you what me.” Sara harshly said. “You went against a direct order Tori.”

Victoria grit her teeth, “And I made the right call. You should be thanking me for saving your ass.”

Sara scoffed, “I had it under control.”

Victoria shook her head in disbelief. “Sara. We need to make bridges here. If Evfra can’t trust us, then the others won’t follow suit. WE need him to work with us willingly.”

Sara’s jaw worked from side-to-side as she contemplated her next words. Victoria just held her ground as Sara spoke, “You’re right. Again.” Sara sighed, and the fight left her body, “When am I going to get this right?”

Victoria led her sister to the couch in the back of the room. Sara braced her elbows on her knees and put her head in her hands. Victoria sighed herself and softly said, “That’s why you have me, Sara. It’s my job to ensure our alliances and secure them. Let me handle Evfra, Tann, Addison, all those people. You need to focus on making sure we accomplish missions. You’re the driving force of this team, I just make sure we keep up appearances.”

Sara looked up at her shame-facedly, “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” She got up and stretched, “I need to take a nap. You coming?”

Victoria shook her head, “You go ahead. I need to eat something.”

Sara nodded and walked out of the room. As she did, Jaal walked up the other side of the room’s ramp and came over to Victoria. He had an amused expression on his face when he stopped in front of her.

Victoria looked at him with a sly face, “Can I help you, Jaal?”

Jaal gave a rumble of laughter, “I saw that.”

Victoria bit her lip to hide her smile. She rolled her eyes at him before saying, “I’m quite sure I don’t know what you are implying sir. I’m scandalized…”

This time Jaal gave a full-bellied laugh, “Perhaps humans are not so repressed as I thought, maybe, more sneaky.”

Victoria nudged him with her foot, “Hey, I was nothing short of a professional in that meeting!”

Jaal just laughed again and turned to go. Victoria stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. When he reached the rail of the ramp, however, he turned back with a considering look on his face.

“I think, he likes you too.” Jaal said seriously and then walked off.

Victoria sat back in her seat with a deep sigh. Now that was some wishful thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/8c/f9/b0/8cf9b08d3f67210db7b75ddea80fb672.jpg - Meeting dress
> 
> Thoughts and comments always appreciated!


	16. Snow Meets Actual Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and Sara head to Voeld. There isn't much time to do complete many tasks but Victoria finds time for a little correspondence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

On the way to Voeld, the Tempest and her crew were in high spirits. It would take 3 and a half days to reach the far flung system, which gave the squad plenty of time to interact. Jaal was breaking out of his shell little by little and the rest of the crew were getting along very well. Drack, while still cranky, was beginning to open up about his very long life and sharing war stories with anyone who would listen. Peebee was, well, she was Peebee, but she and Victoria were getting along a bit better now. Overall, it was a pretty good crew.

However, it was Victoria’s burgeoning friendship with Jaal that really pleased her. Jaal was very inquisitive and after tearing through manuals and information about the ship he was on, his curiosity began to extend to his crew mates. Halfway through the trip to Voeld, Victoria had been hanging out in her room listening to music when SAM had notified her that Jaal was asking to be let in. After rolling up her bed back into a couch and throwing a quick glance around the room to make sure it was decent, she allowed him in. The angara had walked in shyly, as if nervous to invade her personal space but Victoria gave him a beaming smile to show she was happy to see him.

“Jaal!” Victoria said cheerfully, “What brings you to my humble abode?”

Jaal gave her a small smile and replied, “I was hoping to visit with you for a short time. Am I, interrupting you?”

“Not at all!” Victoria answered quickly, “Quite the opposite, actually. Is there something wrong? Is this an official visit?” Victoria felt herself panic for a second, wondering if he needed to file a complaint against Peebee. She had heard the asari making some, suggestive, comments about their guest and she was positive Jaal had heard Peebee. What if he felt uncomfortable? What if Evfra wanted Jaal to report back to Aya immediately?!

Jaal, however, just shook his head and said, “No, Ambassador. I wanted to, hang out, with you.”

Victoria heaved a sigh of relief, “Phew! You scared me there, big guy. Thought you needed intergalactic HR or something…”

“Noo. Hm, what is HR?” Jaal asked innocently.

Victoria gestured for Jaal to follow her to the couch and they both sat down. She pulled the coffee table next to the chair to the front and put her feet up before she answered him, “First, it’s Tori, please. We’re team mates now, we may as well be on first name basis with each other. And, well, HR is short for Human Resources. Though you can still say HR if you need to like report a coworker for sexual harassment or if something illegal is happening at work…” Victoria trailed off as Jaal continued to look at her in confusion.

“Why would you assume I need to report harassment of any kind?” Jaal asked strangely.

Victoria could feel her cheeks flush before she haltingly replied, “I just think of the worst case scenarios, um, yeah…” She paused and nodded her head to try and convince him. He was not persuaded in the least, but he dropped it and they sat in an awkward silence for a beat. Victoria’s music was still playing from her computer and it caught Jaal’s interest. He listened to the heavy beat and slowly began to bop his head to the rhythm. A string of curse words issued from the speakers and he seemed slightly taken aback by the vulgarity.

Victoria laughed awkwardly and coughed, “In another life, I was pretty gangster.” That seemed like a good excuse in her head, but he just seemed even more baffled.

Jaal coughed, “Is all human music so, explicit?”

Victoria laughed, “Not at all, it really depends on the genre of music. We call this rap. I dabble in a lot of music genres.” They both listened til the end of song before Jaal turned back to her with a puzzled but pleased face. Victoria smiled slyly at him and asked, “You liked that, didn’t you?”

Jaal shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, “So so.” He paused and begrudgingly said, “I wouldn’t mind listening to it again…”

They stayed in her room for over 2 hours listening to music and after that Jaal walked out armed with new music. And that was how Jaal fell in love with rap.

Everyone else began to interact with each other in other ways. Jaal and Sara even hung out at one point looking at different mods for their guns. Sara had come back to their room after that with a dreamy look on her face for over one hour. While it was fun, it was finally time to get down to business. Kallo gave the signal that they were approaching the Nol system.

Victoria and Sara’s comms crackled as Jaal spoke over their speakers, “I hope you all can handle the cold…”

Liam’s voice came over, “The cold never bother me anyway.”

The entire ship groaned, except Jaal, who seemed perplexed which was the mood he predominately stayed in these days.

With the threat of cold, Victoria broke out her very convenient thick armor. It wasn’t a dress, which was entirely depressing but it was cute so that had to count for something.

The sisters made their way to the bridge after they changed just as they broke through into the system. Suvi was telling Sara how Voeld had been designated Habitat 6 and scans had suggested that the planet had been covered in oceans of H2O.

Sara scoffed, “I take it that’s no longer the case.”

Suvi answered seriously, “All H2O on Voeld is ice. And those oceans? Frozen over completely.”

“It’s a winter wonderland!” Victoria sing-songed sarcastically.

Sara sighed, “Well, there goes the dream of a seaside property…”

As they began to descend through Voeld’s atmosphere, the ship began to be engulfed in the blizzard that raged on the planet. It made for an exceptionally bumpy ride. Finally, through the thick winds and endless snow, Kallo found a suitable place to land. The Tempest landed but fell through the thick blanket of ice and snow mixture beneath it.

“We’re good!” Kallo cried in alarm.

Victoria, who had fallen against the rail of the Pathfinder console glared at him insolently, “You sure? Want me to go out and push?”

The pilot was unamused, to say the least. Sara and Victoria left the bridge quickly and joined Jaal, who was of course joining them, and Peebee, who was unfortunately joining them, in the cargo bay. The asari was chattering to Jaal at a hundred miles a minute and the poor angara was doing his best to try and keep up with her but it was a losing battle. When the sisters approached, however, Peebee shut her mouth at Sara’s warning stare. The ramp descended, and the team began the trek to the Resistance base Jaal had briefed them on. A cold gust of wind nearly swept Victoria off her feet but Jaal steadied her.

“Step carefully.” Jaal warned, “Ice and darkness, deadly combination.”

They moved forward, the cold creeping into their armor steadily. They hopped onto a nearby cliff edge and carefully hopped around on the strangest path they had ever seen.

Sara called back to Jaal, “This is an impressive setup. A base on an ice mountain!”

Jaal replied in a proud tone, “We’re a strong people who are only momentarily burdened.”

Victoria smiled at him and he returned it with one of his own. Victoria was thankful the Initiative had met the angara. They were exactly what Victoria had hoped they would find when they came to Andromeda. The kett had been a horrible experience, thinking they were the only species here, but she was glad they had found these people.

Victoria nearly flew off a cliff as she had jump jetted just as a gust of wind had blown but she threw herself forward and landed on the other side of a small chasm. She forced herself to snap back to reality lest she really screw up. They found a small heater that everyone congregated around in relief.

Jaal offered them a small amount of comfort, “We’re almost there. We’ll need to talk to Commander Anjik when we arrive.”

The squad plowed on and soon came across two angaran lookouts. They looked at them suspiciously before recognizing Jaal in their group. They let them pass once Jaal informed them that the commander was expecting them on Evfra’s orders. Victoria felt her heart flutter at the mere thought of Evfra’s immense power holding sway over not only Aya, but other planets. Jaal looked at her, as if sensing her thoughts but didn’t comment just led them onwards. Lines of ships came into view and angara were milling about, chatting around the heat lamps in small groups. Jaal motioned for them to stop while he talked to a trio of angara. The conversation didn’t last long and Jaal walked back over to them.

“That pilot over there will be the one accompanying us on the mission to save the Moshae.” Jaal began. This was great news, but Jaal continued, clearly troubled, “He’s an excellent pilot but the blizzard is too severe. We need to wait a few hours before we take off.”

Sara nodded and said, “We can talk to Commander Anjik and see if we can help with anything real quick while we wait.”

Jaal nodded and the party made their way into the base. Victoria took the sights around her in with a small smile on her face. The angara would make wonderful allies and friends if they kept being useful to them. For now, it was lovely taking everything in. She was especially loving their accents, reminding her of the Aussies back home.

Sara giggled, having heard her thoughts, and said, “They do sound like they’re from the outback!” Jaal looked at Sara questioningly and she answered, “The accents here. They sound like a group of people from the Milky Way.”

Jaal hummed thoughtfully, “Strange. So many lightyears apart, but accents can still mirror other civilizations and species from different galaxies.” He seemed thoroughly intrigued with this notion but concluded with, “The accent you are hearing is native to Voeld.”

A thought came to Victoria, “Evfra has this accent…”

Jaal smirked at her, “You noticed? Fascinating.”

Victoria sneered at him, but he just laughed. Their banter died down as they entered the main command center of the base. An angaran woman was surrounded by other soldiers and Victoria assumed this was the commander of this base.

Jaal led their group right to her and said, “Good to see you again, Commander Do Xeel.”

The commander looked away from the group around her and stepped forward to greet Jaal, “And you Jaal. These are the aliens? The ones you think can help us?”

Jaal nudged Sara forward and replied, “Yes. This is Ryder, of the Andromeda Initiative.” Sara gave a weak wave and Victoria mentally smacked herself on the forehead. Here they go again.

Anjik looked unimpressed and said, “I am Anjik Do Xeel. Remember the name because if you betray us, I will kill you myself.” Everyone looked at the commander in shocked silence. Victoria herself tried to remain composed as she continued, “Be assured that what I do to you will make the stars turn their faces and grow dark.”

Sara awkwardly rubbed her gloved hand along the back of her helmet and tentatively replied, “Totally understood. Everyone wants the stars to keep shining, right?” She looked around at her team for backup but found none.

The commander merely said, “We’re in agreement then.” She paused and studied the rest of the team and Victoria held herself high, though the woman before her towered over her by at least 10 inches. She pressed on, “If you wish to prove yourselves, be an ally in our fight against the kett. Despite our best efforts, their growing forces remain a threat to our people. Speak to our lookouts who watch the valley. They’ll know where our need is dire.” She turned to Jaal and said in a much softer tone, “Jaal, watch them… and be careful my friend.”

Jaal chuckled, “I always am.”

With that, the commander dismissed them from her presence and walked away.

Victoria quietly muttered, “Well that went swimmingly…”

Jaal patted her on the shoulder, “You’re lucky she did not shoot you on sight.”

Victoria pursed her lips and sarcastically said, “You’re a ray of sunshine, Jaal.” He looked at her in confusion and she rolled her eyes before saying, “Idiom.”

They walked around the base for a few minutes, letting Jaal say hello to some of his acquaintances here, Victoria spoke to the Intelligence Officer Kaas about Voeld, and Sara and Peebee not so casually snooped around. They were in the middle of reading through someone’s datapad when Victoria walked over to her sister and smacked her arm.

“Sara!” Victoria admonished, “You can’t just go through people’s things!”

Sara snorted, “Well then why is it laying around? Besides, I found us a case. Looks like supplies isn’t getting to the Resistance.”

Jaal made a noise of discontent, “Hm, Olisk is in charge of supplies here. We should check with him.”

Jaal led them over to a harried looking angara who they assumed was Olisk. Sara walked up to him and the angara seemed startled at her approach.

“Pathfinder,” he said nervously, “What can I do for you?”

Sara didn’t mince words, “You’re the requisitions officer? I hear you’re having supplies issues?”

Olisk startled and shifted from foot to foot, “Of course not, I don’t know what you heard but everything is running fine…”

Victoria looked at the fidgeting man suspiciously and said, “Your communications my sister has, apprehended, say otherwise. You haven’t received a shipment in weeks.”

“Those datapads are encrypted!” Olisk said angrily, “How did you…” he hung his head in shame and sighed heavily, “I need to keep this news contained. No one knows the shipments have stopped. If word gets around, we’ll have a serious morale drop. I need to investigate this quietly.”

Victoria felt sympathetic to the man’s plight. He did seem genuinely concerned and she quietly asked, “Do you have any leads?”

Olisk shook his head once, “Not much. The supplies make it planetside, but never reach the base. The obvious answer is the kett. Sabotage is their style. We changed our drop point but no luck.” He rubbed his hand across his forehead and said, “I can’t send someone to investigate without word getting around. I guess there’s no avoiding it eventually.”

Victoria glanced at Sara who could already see what her sister wanted to do and just waved her on. Victoria said timidly, “Well, my sister’s team and I could take a look at the drop point? That way, no one will panic.”

Olisk looked entirely relieved and his shoulders sagged as some tension left him. He responded softly, “I can’t sanction an official search… but, I also can’t stop you from investigating on your own. The navpoint for the last drop location is in my personal console.” He jerked his head over his shoulder to an area where his console must be, “You seem adept at decryption, so I’ll let you figure out the rest.” He nodded his head gratefully to Victoria and the team and walked off.

The two sisters looked at each other and shrugged. They had plenty of time to play detective and went to go find Olisk’s console. The other angara in the base looked at them suspiciously as they had wandered into their work area, but Jaal would just clap them on the back and they would go on their way. Sara made a noise of triumph after her scanner found Olisk’s console and soon, she and SAM accessed it. Sara skimmed through, but SAM found what they needed first.

“Navpoint located, Pathfinder. Updating your nav system with the supply drop point.” SAM said.

Victoria shared an impressed face with her sister and the group quickly moved away from the area before they made more of a scene. Now that they had a place to go, they made their way to the back of the base. They exited and were greeted by an incredible panoramic view of Voeld. Regardless of the blizzard and cold (pun) treatment they were receiving here, Victoria couldn’t deny the beauty of it all.

Jaal laughed quietly to himself, “It’s good to be back. I have friends here.”

Sara tried to be causal, “Oh yeah? Close friends? Um, cute friends? Got a, ahem, girlfriend here?”

Jaal looked at her curiously as Victoria bit her lip to hide her second-hand embarrassment. “Ok...” Victoria tried to change the conversation, “Let’s try and make a good first impression.”

Peebee tried to joke, “Well, everyone looks friendly…”

The group walked up to the scouts Anjik had mentioned, a male and female angara, who were looking out at Voeld and chatting amongst themselves. Sara marched up to them and a foot away the angara sensed them and turned quickly, beginning to bring their guns up in alarm at seeing aliens coming at them.

Sara lifted her hands in surrender and hurriedly said, “Whoa! Didn’t mean to scare you! Just wanted to get some info on the area.”

The two angara stared at her as if she had two heads and Victoria could feel her face getting hot. Why Sara? Why?! The angara holstered their weapons after a moment and continued to stare for a beat or two.

The female angara finally half-turned to her partner and quietly said, “Tseek, I don’t want to talk to it. You talk to it.”

Victoria’s brows shot to her forehead. Was this really happening? She could understand mistrust, but this was ridiculous. Jaal came to their defense.

“Ryder,” he said in his deepest voice, “has a name.”

The female seemed surprised. “You named it? How can you even tell them apart?”

Victoria gaped at the woman in shock. Was she about to slap a bitch? No, but the impulse to do so was strong.

The male, Tseek, groaned and said, “Stars, Beniska. Just stop talking.” He turned to them and gave them an apologetic look, “Yeah, we can show you the valley. What are you looking for?”

Victoria took the lead, “We’re here to help your people.” She threw a look at Beniska. “Know anyone who needs it?”

Tseek didn’t seem to get her underhanded jab at his friend and replied, “We’ve got reports from Hjara about someone trying to rescue a kidnapped family. See those red lights?” He turned and pointed towards flashing red lights in the distance and continued, “That’s it. If you’re here to help, like the commander says, you could start there. Anything else?”

“Will you tell us a little bit about Hjara?” Sara asked.

“Well,” Tseek began, “It’s a daara in the valley. Small community of mostly scientists.”

Peebee seemed skeptical, “How do people manage to live down there?”

Tseek laughed derisively, “Why so surprised? We’ve adapted to this weather.”

They continued to gather a little more information about the daara, Remnant, and the kett command center. The Remnant they had very little information on and the kett facility was maintained by a kett called Prefect, which was quite an ominous name.

Sara nodded, and said, “I’ll let you get back to work.”

Tseek looked her up and down and said suspiciously, “Yeah. You behave. We’re watching you.”

Victoria laughed quietly as Sara sullenly called the Nomad to them from the Tempest. They walked a few feet away from the entrance of the base and set a nav point for the Tempest to deploy a forward station on. As the Tempest came to them and dropped the Nomad off, the three Milky Wayers huddled together to try and generate heat from each other. Jaal seemed not too terribly bothered and examined his gun nonchalantly.

Peebee snickered, “Jaal really knows how to handle his weapon, huh?”

Sara smiled nervously, “Well, he has experience I guess.”

Peebee laughed mischievously, “Don’t know how I’ll keep my hands off of him in the backseat.”

Victoria looked alarmed as the Nomad was plopped down from the Tempest and flew off. An idea occurred to her and she quickly said, “Actually I wanted to sit in the back. I needed to work on my datapad and it’s easier to use the seat in front of me than trying to balance it on my knees in the front. You don’t mind, right Peebee?”

Peebee did look like she minded but accepted her flimsy excuse. She didn’t give a crap if the asari believed her or not. It was worth seeing Sara’s face of relief when she thought no one was looking. Victoria threw Peebee one last not-so-innocent smile and walked to Jaal who was now examining the Nomad with mild concern.

“Problem Jaal?” Victoria questioned.

He pursed his lips and said quietly, “I’m not sure how well I’ll fit in here…”

Victoria looked at the vehicle, then back to Jaal, and then back to the Nomad. She stuck out her lower lip and shrugged, “Can’t relate. You’ll be fine, just think small thoughts.”

Jaal gave her his most unamused look but Victoria just threw him a cheesy smile. They all clambered into the vehicle, where Jaal had a little trouble but not as much as he feared, and Sara took off. The snow was pounding down, and Sara moved the Nomad much more slowly than she ever had but that still did not encourage her teammates. They made a few turns and came upon a female angara who was besieged by some kett. They took them out quickly and made sure she was ok. The angaran assured them she was fine, and they kept moving. Victoria felt bad they hadn’t helped her more, but they had to hurry and try and accomplish all their tasks before the ship to rescue the Moshae was ready.

They finally were nearing the navpoint and as they turned the corner, they spotted a group of angara milling around. What were these angara doing here. They got out of the Nomad and were about to start talking with them when they began to shoot at them and Jaal shouted, “Roekaar!”

Victoria didn’t have time to bring out her gun when one of the Roekaar’s bullets struck her shooting arm. She ducked behind a rock and grasped her hand to her chest. She looked at her arm but saw it was just a graze. Stung like bitch though. She brought out her gun when her medigel began to kick in and helped take out the rest of the angara.

Sara checked on Victoria’s arm and then turned to Jaal in annoyance, “Why were Roekaar stealing from the Resistance?”

Jaal looked at her helplessly when SAM alerted them that there was a datapad nearby. Sara found it and began to read as Victoria peeked at it from behind her sister. It basically read that the Roekaar were trying to amass a stockpile of tech without alerting Evfra to their plans. The sender of this message was named Akksul, and he seemed like he was the main orchestrator of this plan.

“Akksul? Someone we should know about Jaal?” Victoria asked curiously.

Jaal shook his head gravely, “That, is, a conversation for another time.”

Sara looked bewildered and seemed ready to press for more answers, but Victoria shook her head no. When Jaal was ready, he would share this information. Right now, they needed to alert Olisk that the drop point was secure and then head to Hjara. Victoria sent the necessary messages and they all clambered back into the Nomad. Victoria looked at her scrape in dejection. There goes her flawless skin. She rubbed more medigel in and sighed. Next to her, Jaal made a noise of discontent but when she looked at him questioningly, he averted his eyes quickly and cleared his throat self-consciously. Victoria mentally shrugged and figured it was just a weird alien thing. They chugged along in the Nomad, Sara and Peebee talking amongst themselves while Victoria found a patch for her armor and secured it over the hole in her armor. They were finally nearing the red lights of Hjara when Peebee looked back at Jaal.

She looked him over and quietly said, “You know Jaal, you smell really good. Like, not just now, but always.”

Jaal looked mildly surprised but said, “Thank you. I like to… well, I take pride in all aspects of my person. I like to smell nice.”

Victoria felt her eye began to twitch in agitation when she glanced at Sara, who’s fingers were gripping the wheel intensely. Peebee continued, “Well, I think it’s great. Where do you get it?”

Jaal explained that he made his own scents and Peebee seemed thrilled. Victoria knew she had to cut in, “Well, that’s wonderful Jaal. Maybe when we get everything settled you can make the Andromeda version of Bath and Body Works? There will be a market, you know?”

Jaal chuckled, “I’m no entrepreneur. But perhaps we can go into business together.”

Sara slammed on the breaks and everyone pitched forward. Sara tittered anxiously, “Sorry, hit the brakes a little too hard… but we’re here.”

Indeed, Hjara stood before them, a small town carved into a mountain. They all made their way out of the Nomad, Jaal rubbing his head petulantly where had had smacked it on the roof of the vehicle and walked ahead to introduce them to the people who lived here. Victoria smacked Sara’s arm and gave her a bewildered look, but Sara just shook her off and followed after Jaal. Victoria gave a silent prayer asking for patience and followed the rest of the team. Jaal and Sara were already talking to the angara who needed assistance. Skeot, the man who needed help, wanted to rescue his uncle, who seemed to be an asset to the Resistance and was being held in a “kett labor camp.”

“What’s a kett labor camp?” Victoria asked, already dreading the answer.

Skeot sighed, “Different things. They put people in cages there. Sometimes they make them work. Sometimes they collect angara and once they have enough, they move them. And… sometimes they just kill them. My father died that way.”

Peebee shifted awkwardly and said, “That’s awful. I’m sorry…”

Skeot looked at her and harshly said, “Don’t be sorry. Make sure I don’t lose more family.”

Sara stepped closer to him and said determinedly, “I’ll get your uncle.”

Skeot nodded and pulled up his device and said, “Here’s the navpoint of the labor camp. Please hurry. Niilj may not have much time.”

Sara resolutely nodded and they all jogged back to the Nomad. The situation seemed dire and they needed to hurry. Sara revved the Nomad to life and they peeled out of the daara. They were silent as they drove, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Victoria had never been so horrified to hear that labor camps were also a thing here in Andromeda. She thought she had escaped that back home, but it seemed evil lurked everywhere. They flew off a cliff side and finally saw the camp in the distance. Victoria took a deep breath and let it out shakily. While she had been part of an infiltration team already, that didn’t stop her anxiety from spiking.

Sara parked them several meters away behind a boulder where they hopefully hadn’t been detected yet. They all got out of the Nomad quietly and unholstered their guns. Sara took the lead and led them towards the camp and behind a protective wall and some crates. Sara was about to say something when the screech of a wraith was heard before it fell on them. Peebee shouted as it lashed out, its claws barely missing her midriff. Sara unsheathed her ominblade and gutted in the middle. It made a sickening squelching noise and fell dead, but not before letting out a curdling death cry. In the distance they heard the kett running over and knew they needed to charge in if they would be getting out of here alive. Sara activated a profile and shot out from her cover, her biotics flaring to life, and she Nova punched the ground and sent a trio of kett flying in the air. The other team mates watched for a split second as their Pathfinder transformed from an awkward 22 year old to a proficient killing machine. Victoria glanced at Jaal, wondering if he was repulsed by her sister’s untamed power but he seemed oddly enraptured by Sara’s grace on the battlefield. Victoria guessed everyone had their kinks, before joining her sister on the field. She aimed a shot at an Anointed who popped out from a crate and he fell quickly. She scanned her surroundings and noticed orange lights coming from the platform above. She saw movement in them and realized they must be cages.

Victoria activated her comm, “Pathfinder, we need to get on the platforms ahead. Prisoners spotted in orange cages.”

Sara, who was ahead of her responded, “Copy that. Team to me, 10 o’clock to 12.”

Jaal shouted from somewhere behind, “Where is that?!”

Victoria merely turned and gestured for him to follow her. Peebee joined her and they all made their way to Sara who was finishing off another wraith. They ran up the ramps that funneled up to the platforms and spotted the cages. Sara ran to the side of the cage and began to access the control panel next to it. The angara inside cried out, “Get me out of this thing! Once I have a gun I’m going to destroy these kett!” The cage opened, and the male ran out. Jaal threw a gun at him from a nearby dead kett as a second wave of kett were dropped off from a ship. Victoria spotted a new type of kett, which Jaal yelled was called a Destined, who seemed to have the same cloaking abilities as the wraiths. Victoria began to trade fire with it as it was blocking another ramp the team needed to access to reach another cage. The Destined, however, was quite skilled and wasn’t making it easy for the Ambassador. It was no match for her and soon dropped dead and they proceeded forward. Jaal and Sara were shoulder to shoulder as they took on a group of kett that were attempting to flank them, but they made an exceptional team. They made their way slowly up the ramp and the team covered Sara as she opened another cage. The angara within cried out, “Disable the fence, please! I have to get out!” Victoria’s heart lurched to her throat at the desperation in this person’s voice. The cage finally opened, and the angara fell to their knees. Victoria tried to lift them up as the angara began to cry.

He looked at her with such pain and quietly said, “Freedom, at last…”

Victoria looked at him sadly and helped him up as Jaal shoved another gun he found into the angara’s hands. They proceeded in much the same way for the other 4 cages and soon they had extinguished the last of the kett. They all made their way to the center of the camp and sighed in relief.

Peebee laughed, “Still alive!”

Victoria nodded and chuckled breathlessly, but Jaal spoke before she could, “Sara, Pathfinder… I’ve never seen you move so gracefully. The power you wield is, immense.”

Sara flushed bright red, “Well, I, train often. So… thanks.”

Jaal nodded in appreciation and walked over to the rescued angara. Victoria clapped her sister on the shoulder and shook her lightly, “So, Jaal likes powerful women. That’s good to know, right?”

Sara smiled shyly at her sister but then moved to join Jaal with the other angara. They were all laughing in relief and hugging each other with such desperation it almost brought tears to Victoria’s eyes.

“Niilj by the way, you all were just in time.” Niilj said, “I would’ve given us another day at most. No thanks to Eraana’s jabs.”

A female angara sniffed disdainfully, and, they presumed this was Eraana, said, “If the kett can’t handle being called mildly insulting things that’s on them, not me.”

They all laughed as Niilj said, “You see what I mean? We owe you. How did you find us anyway?”

Victoria responded quietly, “Your nephew Skeot was trying to get you rescued.”

Eraana made a noise of approval, “Good boy. He’s got potential Niilj.”

Niilj sighed, “So you’ve said before.” He sighed again and stretched, “Well, the Resistance needs to be debriefed. We’ll head back to the base as soon as possible.”

Eraana, however, had different ideas and said they needed to go to Techiix to drop off a key code from the kett base. Sara offered to deliver it for them and Niilj agreed before they went their separate ways.

Jaal hummed quietly and said, “Evfra will want to know about this. Perhaps we should set up a call with him?”

Victoria shook her head, “No time. I’ll message him directly.” Her omnitool pinged and she brought up her emails. “Besides. Just got a message from the pilot that the ship will be ready in three hours. We still need to drop this code off then get back to base. And, I need to run an errand but it’s not far from here.”

Peebee chimed in, “Plus, we need to rotate me out for Cora. She’s on the roster for the mission.”

Victoria sighed unhappily. She wished there was time to speak to Evfra face to face, but that would have to wait for after the mission. With their plan set, they took off for Victoria’s navpoint from Sohkaa, the angaran cargo supplier back on Aya. They were actually quite close, and Victoria sighed in boredom. Fetch quests sucked man, but hey, she was here to do good and blah blah blah.

They reached the nav and hopped out of the Nomad. Just glancing at the scene, one could tell there had been an ambush here. Scorch marks littered the ground and further off, an angaran corpse lay. That must have been Keldo, Sohkaa’s friend.

“Sara can you get a scan of the area? I need to report what happened to the cargo supplier on Aya.” Victoria asked unhappily.

Sara nodded and began scanning. She found the cargo and found that it contained angaran weapons, not supplies like Sohkaa had said.

Jaal coughed awkwardly, “Did Sohkaa not mention he, helps us out sometimes?”

Victoria planted her hands on her hips, “No. No he neglected that part.” This felt like a setup…

When Sara’s scan revealed the scorch marks came from kett, it set off warning bells in the Ambassador’s mind. There was no time to piece it together, however, as a kett ship dropped off soldiers to try and ambush them. Victoria whipped her gun out and took one out before it had even hit the ground. Anger really really steadied her hand.

After the small ambush, Victoria turned to face Jaal head on. She crossed her arms in front of her and tapped her foot impatiently. Jaal shifted from foot to foot and remained silent. She guessed she had to be the upfront one, “So. Wanna tell me what that was about?”

Jaal rubbed his head with his gloved hand and haltingly said, “You should speak with Sohkaa. He, knows more.” With that he turned away from her and went into the Nomad. Victoria clenched her jaw in annoyance. This was a test. That much she knew. For what and to gain what knowledge she didn’t know. She stormed into the Nomad and sat in the back with Jaal but didn’t give him a chance to speak with her. She pulled up her omnitool and went to her emails to find Evfra’s personal email information. She began typing furiously and the others got in the Nomad silently and they took off to Techiix in silence. Victoria didn’t know why she was so peeved. Perhaps it was because Evfra was playing her like a fool. Making her run around trying to gain his favor like a little dog. She wasn’t sure about anything at the moment. All she knew was that she needed to give Evfra a piece of her mind.

Concerns from Voeld

To: Evfra

From: Victoria

Evfra. I completed your little test on Voeld.

The cargo, or rather, the Resistance weapons

have been retrieved and will be safely put on

our ship. Why you felt the need to test me,

I’m not sure. Trust is a two-way street.

 

She looked over her email and rewrote some parts and edited certain words for long minutes. They had found Techiix and Sara had Jaal deliver the key code to the right people and returned and Victoria was still on her email. As they were driving back to the Resistance base she finally hit send. She laid herself back in her seat and closed her eyes to try and cool off. In about an hour or so she would need to regain her composure for this mission and she needed to settle down quick. No one bothered her on the ride up the mountain, as they all sensed she was still wound up and figured it would be better to leave her be. They reached the base and made their way back through the long halls of the headquarters. Commander Do Xeel stopped them briefly to say thank you for rescuing Niilj before letting them go. They walked out of the front of the base and finally found their way to the Tempest. Victoria went to her room and sat heavily down in the chair by the desk. She sighed and looked at her patched up arm. She was no longer annoyed, it was stupid to get worked up over a little test. Evfra wanted to make sure they wouldn’t steal the supplies and to see if they would even do it. She just wished the man wouldn’t be so secretive. She knew her crush was getting in the way of being objective, but… that was easier said than done. Her computer pinged to let her know she had new email and she quickly opened her inbox. Of course, it was Evfra, he never left her waiting.

Responding to Your Concerns

To: Victoria

From: Evfra

True. Trust goes both ways. You must

trust that I have my reasons for doing

what I do. However, I see your point.

Your rescue of Niilj from the kett camp

was good, his loss would have been

hard for the Resistance. We will speak

again after your main mission is

complete on Voeld.

Stay strong and clear, Ambassador.

 

Victoria spent almost 30 minutes just staring at Evfra’s message. On the one hand, he recognized that games were childish if they wanted to build something here for the good of everyone. On the other hand, he didn’t really give an inch on whether he was in the wrong. The man was entirely frustrating. As she penned and sent a quick note back, there was knock on the door and Victoria turned to look as her sister’s head popped around the corner of their room’s door.

“Hey.” She said quietly. “You ready to go? Jaal said the conditions are better so the ship should be good to go soon.”

Victoria sighed but nodded, “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s do this.”

Sara looked like she was about to walk out when she changed her mind and told SAM to close the door behind her and alert her if anyone approached. She bit her lip nervously as she thought through what she wanted to say. Slowly, she said, “Earlier. When Peebee and Jaal were talking. You don’t think...” she shook her head and began again, “I know she has a thing for him. Not seriously or anything, but, do you think he might have a thing for her?”

Victoria got up from her seat placed both of her hands on her sister’s shoulders gently. She said quietly, “Sara. You gotta lock that dick down. Because Jaal is quite the catch. Either, you put a ring on it or he walks.”

Sara snorted, “Lock the dick down…”

Victoria shook her lightly, “I’m serious. He was looking at you at the kett camp. Your BDE was off the charts and he could feel it.” She squeezed her shoulders once and let go, “Trust me Sara. I may be a virgin and completely inexperienced, but I know this shit.”

Sara groaned and rubbed her still gloved hands across her face. She shook all her tension off and snapped into professional mode, “We’ll talk more about this later. Right now, we have more important things to do.”

With that, the two sisters walked out of their room and back out into the cold Voeld air.

**_Across the Cluster, Moments Later._ **

A certain grumpy Resistance Leader received and read a short message from the most intriguing person he had met in a while. It read:

Correspondence from a Friend

To: Evfra

From: Victoria

Evfra, thank you for listening. I look

forward to seeing you soon.

From your friend, Victoria.

 

Evfra looked at the email and quickly archived it. He had no time to ponder on silly heart palpitations or even why he saved the message. He got back to work and soon mostly forgot about the emails between him and the Ambassador. Every so often, however, Evfra’s eyes would involuntarily stray to his console and wonder if there was a new message waiting for him from his new acquaintance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Jaal and Victoria were listening to is HUMBLE. by Kendrick Lamar, but you can supplement anything if you wish.
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f8/e0/ea/f8e0ea67cad91f1cc9f69cf4ed2a8a78.jpg -Voeld armor


	17. The Daring Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and the Pathfinder team infiltrate the kett facility. Dark times lay ahead...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! So, this is the last chapter that really follows along with the Pathfinder. I think... Victoria will strt having her own adventures after this one. She will be still going on missions with her sister, but probably not on the BIG missions. I think if she does, it'll just be when they first reach "Meridian" and maybe the ending. We'll see though. I'm not good at keeping promises.
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

Victoria shivered involuntarily as she followed her sister up and through the mountains of Voeld to reach the Resistance base again. While the blizzard from earlier had subsided, snow still fell steadily from the sky. Cora and Sara were ahead and Jaal and Victoria made up the rear. The team was silent as they mentally prepared themselves for the mission they were about to undertake. Victoria herself kept her mouth shut for fear she would projectile vomit at any second. That was an embarrassment she just did not need right now. This was unlike any other mission they had taken on and the stakes were incredibly high. This felt like a suicide mission.

Before Victoria was ready, they reached the base and approached the pilot they were to meet up with. Another angara was with him and he stepped forward to greet them.

“Are you the Ambassador and her team Evfra was telling us about?” The male angara asked.

Victoria felt herself flush, “I am. Though, Sara Ryder – our Pathfinder – leads this team.”

The angara shrugged casually and said, “Commander Heckt, this is the team assigned to breach the facility with you. Hopefully rescue Moshae Sjefa.”

The pilot interrupted, “The kett facility is on the other side of the planet. We need to get moving.”

Sara nodded and said definitively, “Let’s get a move on before the storm picks up again.”

The two angara agreed readily and everyone boarded the ship and settled in. Sara and Victoria sat next to each other and Cora flanked Sara’s other side. Jaal decided to stand as he was too anxious to sit. When the other Resistance members settled in, the ship ascended into the air and took off before Victoria even had time to send out a prayer to a God she wasn’t sure existed.

Victoria huffed quietly and whispered to Sara, “These are the moments I wish I had a rosary…”

Sara laughed softly, “Not sure what good that would do. We’re far from God’s territory now.”

Victoria took a quick glance out at a small window and noted they were flying through a tight ice chasm as two other Resistance ships followed closely behind them. This was a big operation, Victoria hoped she wouldn’t let Evfra down… she hoped she wouldn’t let herself down. Her thoughts were interrupted when Sara began to converse with the other angara in the ship.

“So,” Sara began, “No one has ever seen the inside of one of these places before?”

Jaal sighed heavily, “None who lived to tell. Prisoners who go in… are never seen again. We call them “the disappeared”.”

Victoria grimaced, “That’s fucking dark…”

Cora nodded, “That’s grim. No one’s escaped?”

Commander Heckt replied, “Sure, we’ve liberated kett work camps, but never these facilities.” He shook his head in clear despair, “We’ve lost so many fighters trying. The price was too high.”

A young male, named Owwin, naively stated, “I like to believe that the kett take important angara from here to their home cluster.”

Everyone looked at him in disbelief and Victoria felt her face contort into an expression of second-hand embarrassment. She knew he meant well, but…

Jaal summed up their collective thoughts, “What? As slaves?”

Owwin seemed frazzled at Jaal’s question, “Well… I guess?”

“Death, is better.” Jaal said darkly.

Sara gripped his arm comfortingly, “Jaal, we can’t give in to blanket despair. We have to hope. It’s why they fight. Why we fight.”

Jaal nodded and gripped Sara’s hand back in squeezed gently before they both let go. Sara ducked her head to hide the dopey look she got on her face, but Victoria saw everything. She knocked shoulders with her sister before using their link.

“ _Hey, you don’t control that ladyboner, it’ll pop right out of your armor._ ”

Sara blew her off as Commander Heckt said, “This is why we’re excited to be a part of this mission.”

Everyone quieted down for a few moments to contemplate what lay ahead. It was obvious the stakes were high and there was a good chance some, if not all, of them might not make it out of this mission. There was no telling what they would find once they were in. Could be just a large scale work camp… or an all out death factory. There was no telling.

The pilot interrupted everyone’s thoughts as he announced they were approaching the kett facility. Victoria swallowed a large lump that popped up in her throat. Cora gave her a quick reassuring smile as Sara squeezed her arm. Victoria tried to remind herself that she was in the company of professionals. As long as she didn’t do anything stupid, she would be good.

Sara assumed an authoritative tone as she said, “Once we’re through the shield, Jaal you take point.” Jaal nodded his head as Sara gestured at the Ambassador and her second-in-command, “We’ll look for Moshae Sjefa.” Sara looked around at everyone and tried to joke, “Let’s just try and stay safe?”

A female angara who had remained quiet up until this point interjected, “But Pathfinder, no one joins the Resistance to stay safe.”

Jaal nodded his head at this, as did the other two males in the ship’s hold, and Sara remained quiet. Victoria thought of that statement and wondered why Evfra had joined. Clearly, the man shared the same sentiment if his soldiers thought this. There was no time to give this thought any sincere consideration as the pilot began to descend and dropped them off in front of the largest building Victoria had seen since their whole adventure began. A large shimmery field surrounded the facility and as they all exited the ship; the immensity of the situation began to crash around Victoria. Jaal stood next to her and clapped a hand over her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine. Follow your sister’s lead and we’ll get out of this.”

Victoria glared up at him but just gestured for him to go ahead as the whole group, about 20 of them including the Pathfinder team, walked to the barrier in front of them. Sara was at the head of the group and began to scan a small circuiting area of the field. She began to run the disarming program with SAM to disable the shields.

Suddenly a small section of the barrier opened and they all rushed through, afraid that their small window would close too soon.  They hadn’t even taken two steps towards the building before two guard wraiths were trying to get a bite into them, however, with 20 guns, the odds were against the wraiths and they never stood a chance. This only served to piss Sara off who said loudly, “SAM, by the time we’re outta this place, I want to know every damn thing about this place.” SAM answered in affirmative, already used to the Pathfinder’s temperament.

They all moved forward, guns held aloft, and broke through an exhaust vent and came upon a room filled with an assortment of kett. It was like a fucked up box of chocolates, where every piece was some variation of coconut or orange filling… Sara glanced at Victoria oddly and she realized she had been saying all that aloud in her head. She shrugged, and Sara moved slightly forward. It seemed the small movement captured one of the kett’s eyes, for suddenly the team were being shot at rapidly.

“Go go go!” Sara shouted and gestured with her gun for the team to drop down on the kett. The angara did as they were told and began to descend and take on the kett in the room below the vent. Victoria herself jump-jetted down and began to shoot at any kett she could get in her line of view. She managed to take down at least two before the room was cleared out.

Owwin shook his head in absolute shock, “I’ve stared at the outside of these places for so long… I can’t believe we got in.”

Heckt looked around and said, “Our people’s things are here, abandoned.”

The commander was right. There were personal effects strewn about the room on tables, as if the kett had been going through it to see what was valuable and what wasn’t. This reminded Victoria of her home and a museum she had once been to. Videos and displays showed images of the same thing that was happening here. Genocide seemed to follow wherever sentient life lived. It disgusted Victoria.

They moved to a door on the first level as Sara told them to huddle up. “If we were a surprise, I doubt we are anymore.” She said seriously.

Commander Heckt nodded, “You have the best chance of finding Moshae Sjefa. We’ll attack head-on and provide a distraction.”

Victoria made a noise of discontent, “That would be suicide!”

“We’re ready for anything.” The commander said. They locked eyes and Victoria willed herself not to cry at the emotion in this man’s eyes. He would give his life for his people; how could she not give all of herself as well?

Skaelv, the female from their ship, got the doors open and it was time for them all to disperse. Both teams wished each other luck and wondered if they would see each other again. Sara led the team up to the second level of the room as SAM notified her that the program he used could destroy the facility.

Victoria paused as Sara tried to get the door open in front of them, “Why the hell what that be a thing SAM?”

SAM answered promptly, “The pulse within the program would overload the shield and create a cataclysmic overload of the system. However, this pulse would prove lethal to angaran physiology.”

Victoria looked at her team in disbelief at this news. What the hell?

Sara, still focused on the door, said distractedly, “That’s not ideal…”

Cora concurred, “Until we’re clear, let’s call that “Plan Don’t”.”

Sara finally got the door open and it led into a small dark room that everyone piled into. Sara began to scan around just as the door they had walked in through closed and locked shut. Victoria rushed to the other door and tried to open it, but it refused to budge. She began to feel perspiration dot her forehead. She felt like she had just found herself in a scene from one of the museum videos where people went into a shower chamber but never came out. Was this it?

Sara tried to remain calm, “SAM, what is this?”

SAM answered as strange blue lights flashed around them. “A decontamination protocol. The chamber is sealed until the cycle runs its course.”

“So, we’re trapped.” She stated blandly, “I hate that.”

Victoria timidly asked, “This won’t fry our immune system, right?”

Everyone looked around nervously, but they didn’t seem to be in immediate harm’s way. The protocol finally finished and as the door began to unlock Sara whispered in annoyance, “Damn germaphobes…”

They walked into a long corridor and glanced around nervously. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but that felt even worse. It was eerily quiet in this section.

“Pathfinder!” A rushed whisper came through their comms and the team almost burst out of their skins. It was Skaelv. “Come in, Pathfinder!”

Sara gruffly answered, “Don’t scare us like that! How’s it going?”

The Resistance team had found their way to a room where they could see other angara. They were discussing their next moves and wanted an update on the Pathfinder team’s position. When they were finished talking the silence that was left over felt deafening. Sara decided not to break the silence and gestured for them to follow her to the right and into a room with multiple tables and chairs. It was reminiscent of a schoolroom. Victoria shuddered at the idea of kett children but noted that the chairs and seats were for large persons, so if not children, then grown kett? A stasis pod was at the front of the room and the team began to hypothesize the reasons the kett would need to learn about pods. They knew they would find no answers here and left the room. They went to the other side of the corridor, dispatched a guard wraith, and perused through what looked like a common room. There were personal missive datapads some from the Archon and others to some Benefactor. It was all very odd and left everyone feeling uneasy and they all backed out of the room slowly. Sara led them to the door in the middle of the corridor and opened it. As it opened a kett was just walking past the entrance and Sara and the kett made eye contact for a millisecond, both shocked to be face-to-face, before Jaal shot it in the face.

Victoria whistled in discomfort and looked at the angara, “Straight savage, Jaal.”

Jaal shrugged unrepentantly but there was no time to talk as the shot had alerted the other kett in the room that they were under attack. The room they had walked into seemed to be a conference room of some kind and the kett within fought hard to defend it. They were no match for Sara and Cora’s biotics while Jaal’s marksmanship was unmatched. Victoria held her own and took shots at those that got too close to her other team mates. The room was cleared out quickly and the team began to explore everything. They all made their way to the large clouded window at the front of the room and as Sara accessed the console, the window cleared up and they were able to look out. Before them, a large monument of the Archon stood in the center of a large room. In front of the statue kett were lined up towards the statue and in the middle of them, four angara stood calmly. It seemed to be a ceremony of some kind, led by the Cardinal they had been briefed on during the ride here.

She spoke to the gathered and said, “Fortunate welcome! Step forward.” The angara came closer to her as stasis pods opened behind the Cardinal. She continued, “I am humbled before you, you who are Chosen. Chosen by the Archon. Chosen to be exalted!”

The kett below repeated the last phrase and Victoria grimaced in disgust. This is why she had dropped religion. It was all bullshit. The angara, however, remained passive and walked into the pods calmly and the doors were sealed behind them.

Jaal looked on in bewilderment, “Why aren’t they resisting?!”

Sara shook her head in disbelief, “That’s some crazy cult shit down there. Those angara look like they’re in some sort of trance.”

Victoria scoffed, “They drank the damn Kool-Aid. Why do people drink the Kool-Aid?”

Jaal looked around the room and quietly said, “I know the Moshae. She’s not down there. But maybe in one of those pods?” He gestured to pods, at least twenty or more, that lined the outskirt of the room.

Sara looked at him and nodded firmly, “It’s a good a lead as any…”

Owwin suddenly spoke over the comms and excitedly said, “You wanted a distraction Pathfinder? We just set our plan on fire.”

A beat passed and suddenly a large blast sounded in the distance which shook both the Pathfinder team and the kett below them. A holoimage of the Archon appeared behind the Cardinal and he demanded to know what had happened. The team listened carefully as the Cardinal explained they had been breached and the Archon demanded the Moshae go through the “final exaltation” before ending the call.

Jaal began to panic as the Cardinal left the room, “Final exaltation? What’s final? What are they doing? We have to save all the angara!”

Victoria mildly wondered if she should slap some sense into him, but Sara stepped in first, “Jaal, we’re here. We’ll do everything we can.”

Cora butted in with a harsh, “That wasn’t the plan!” as Jaal thanked Sara quietly.

Victoria spoke for her sister, “Plans change lieutenant.”

Cora held her tongue as Sara moved ahead. They had to find out where those pods went and there was no time for arguing. As they moved further and further into the facility, Heckt came over the comms to let them know he had contacted Commander Do Xeel to get more fighters in. Jaal asked for scientists and technicians to be sent as well to collect as much data as they could. The opportunity to study the place was unpassable.

They walked into a large cavernous room, pods hanging on assembly lines going from room to room. Kett fighters also lay in wait and the squad was soon being shot at from above. They all ducked and dodged around, trying to combat their foe who clearly knew their way around the room. The battle was won and soon the Pathfinder and her team were jump-jetting up to the second floor to find a way through this mad scientist’s labyrinth. They broke through a vent that led to a lab of some kind. Pods lined all the walls and up towards the rounded ceiling. There must have been at least a hundred pods in this room alone. Sara rushed to a console in the middle of the room and got SAM to see if they could trace the Moshae’s pod. It had been in the room but had been pulled out moments ago. Of all the rotten luck. They moved to another room next to them that seemed to be a maintenance tunnel. It was extremely dark in here and everyone peered into it with trepidation. Their comms crackled and Skaelv spoke to them.

“Our reinforcements are arriving. We’re doubling back to rendezvous.”

Sara nodded absently and replied, “We have a lead on the Moshae.”

Jaal interjected, “We think she’s alive!”

A relieved sigh sounded over the comms and Skaelv continued, “Star’s strength! That’s good news!”

Sara signed off and they slowly made their way through the tunnel of seeming death. Luckily, there were no jump scares in there and they broke through another exhaust vent and walked straight ahead through another door. As luck would have it, they walked into another decontamination room and were locked in. Immediately, they had to duck down because in the room in front of them, kett surrounded a pod and a male angara floated out of it. Victoria felt her breath catch in her throat at his expression, he seemed dazed and uncertain of what was going on but remained relatively calm as he took in the kett below him. A kett floated up to him, two large syringes in his hands, and the angara spread his arms out. The kett raised the syringes and jammed them into the angara’s chest as the angara cried out in pain. The veins in his body began to pop out and become laced with a black substance that spread throughout the entire body. Jaal gasped in horror as he watched his fellow angara shake in anguish and groan in pain as the blackness overtook his body and he fell heavily to the floor. Their view was obscured for a moment and when they were finally able to see the angara had somehow been transformed into a kett. The door finally opened and Jaal rushed in before Sara had given the word and began to shoot at the kett in the room. The newly transformed kett, after grabbing a gun, began to shoot at them along with the others. Victoria took a few shots at the new kett but stopped when Jaal yelled to stop shooting at him. Sara, however, took the initiative and killed him before Jaal could stop her. The others fell dead around them as well soon and the squad approached the new, and now dead, kett. Jaal knelt next to the slain kett and studied it carefully. Sara approached him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Jaal?” She asked quietly.

He was silent for a few moments before saying in a choked voice, “They are us…” his head bent, and he began to weep brokenly. Sara knelt beside Jaal and began to console him. Victoria stood back and let her sister have this moment with their friend. Cora, uncomfortable with such displays of emotion, went to another room to try and locate the Moshae. Victoria watched on in sorrow, she couldn’t believe the absolute evil the kett displayed. This was genocide.

Sara and Jaal finished their conversation and stood up and Victoria assumed she could join them. She heard Sara finish saying, “…let’s start by finding the Moshae, if anyone can figure out what this means for the angara, I’m guessing it’s her”. Jaal was about to nod in affirmative when Cora’s panicked voice came over the comms.

“Ryders! Jaal! I found her. Down here!”

The trio didn’t even look at each other before taking off in a sprint to where Cora had gone. They ran through a small corridor and straight into another decontamination chamber. There, floating in midair, was the Moshae. Jaal ran straight to the window that separated the two rooms and tried to smash it, but as SAM had indicated earlier, it was impenetrable. However, it did cause the kett in the other room to stop the horrid process and turn to see what the commotion was. Having spotted them, the Cardinal grabbed the Moshae and rushed her out of the room, leaving the other disciples behind to cover her. SAM finally hacked the decontamination protocol and the squad ran into the room, shooting down the few kett that were in the room immediately upon entering. Sara led them to the door the Cardinal had run through.

“SAM, what’ve you got?” Sara demanded.

“I was able to access the facility plans. A best guess would be the shuttle launch area above.”

The room they were in led to a lift that Sara accessed immediately. The team ran in and soon they were zooming upwards. Victoria glanced at Jaal to see how he was holding up, but he seemed lost in his own world. A mixture of emotions flitted across his face and Victoria was sure he didn’t even know how he was feeling at the moment. The lift came to a halt and opened to a small foyer with a door immediately in front of them. This must be the entrance to the launch pad.

Sara took a deep breath before turning to her team and saying, “Let’s do this shit guys.”

The team nodded, and Sara opened the door. Directly ahead of them waited the Cardinal. Beyond her, they could see Moshae Sjefa laying on the floor in a heap, seemingly huddled into herself. There was no time to get a good look at her as other kett flanked them from either side of the kett hanger bay. Victoria ducked behind a small wall for cover and brought up her gun to take down an Anointed that was hulking closer to them. The kett were fighting harder than she had ever seen them before. The Moshae must have been very important to the Archon for his disciples to be fighting so determinedly. Jaal was doing his best to get closer to the Moshae but the Cardinal kept sending beams of energy waves at him that would momentarily disable him from moving. At one point, two kett nearly took him out but Sara was watching out for their angaran team mate and blasted them away with a powerful nova.

Cora was tangling with the Cardinal herself, darting to and fro, aiming her biotics at an orb that seemed to generate a protective shield around the kett leader. The Cardinal must have sensed the Pathfinder team gaining ground on her team as she ordered a new wave of reinforcements to her. A horde of new kett descended on them and it felt as if they were battling for their very souls. Victoria knew if they faltered even for a second, their fates would be sealed and who knew what horrendous deeds awaited them. The squad fought with all their might, the will to live guiding their movements and their aims were true.

The second wave was dealt with and before the Cardinal could order more soldiers to her, she began to defend herself from all four members of the Pathfinder team at once. Sara and Cora rained biotics and bullets alike on her while Jaal’s own guerilla style fighting kept her on her toes. Victoria, a bit farther away, inched her way closer and closer to the Moshae, intent on keeping any stray kett away from her. In the end, their onslaught was too much for the high-ranking kett, and she feel to Sara’s last gunshot.

The team ran to the Moshae’s side before the Cardinal had even dropped to the ground. Sara fell to her knees and began scanning her immediately.

“We’ve got you,” Sara said in a rushed tone, “We’re getting you out of here.”

The Moshae looked around at the group numbly, as if she was waking from a trance, and said dazedly, “No one has ever returned from behind kett walls…”

Sara quipped, “Well, we haven’t learned the rules yet.”

Victoria made an impatient sound, “Jokes later. We need to get out of here, like, two minutes ago.”

Sara and Jaal helped Moshae Sjefa stand as she said, “I’m not the only one here. They took the entire cell.”

Jaal brushed off her concern as he scanned her, “Her vitals are bad. Her entire immune system has been decimated.”

Out of nowhere, and before the squad could pull out their guns again, the Cardinal came flying towards them. She began to charge up an energy beam as she said, “You will not take it! It is meant for the Archon himself!”

Victoria stared in horror as the ball of energy grew larger… but just as suddenly, there was Cora, her gun pressed right at the Cardinal’s temple, and it was officially over for the kett leader. She lowered her hand and the energy ball disintegrated.

Sara stared defiantly at the kett and said, “She’s coming with us” and made to walk past the Cardinal but the Moshae dug her feet in to halt their movements.

“Wait,” she said feebly, “I want to know why…”

The Cardinal sneered, “Arrogant simpletons. This is a gift! Who are you to deny it?”

Sara scoffed and looked entirely insulted. “You turn them into monsters that fight their own people!”

“These Chosen join with us to become great beyond your ability to comprehend.” The Cardinal said with such fiery reverence, Victoria felt her skin crawl. The kett continued, “Like them, I too was once wretched, and the DNA of our great Archon entwines with mine. I stand on his shoulders of greatness. As they do. As one day, you will!”

Victoria felt her sister ignite with unrestrained rage as she got right into the Cardinal’s space and furiously said, “Except I am gonna fuck your shit up. How’s that for great?”

The two distinct species stared each other down for a beat before SAM interrupted urgently, “Pathfinder I am detecting inbound hostile kett cruisers.”

The Cardinal muttered darkly, “You will all be exalted.”

Victoria shuddered and asked aloud, “SAM, is there an off switch to this horror show?”

SAM affirmed, “I’ve accessed the EM field, Ambassador. I can overload at the Pathfinder’s command.”

Jaal angrily cut in and stepped towards Sara, “You promised you’d get our people out!”

Cora looked hesitantly between Sara and the kett she still held at gunpoint. “There’s no time to open hundreds of pods, let alone a mass evacuation.”

The Cardinal look dismayed as she exclaimed, “Wait! Leave my sacred temple intact and I will open the pods of the Chosen. Take them- just leave this holy place standing.”

Victoria gaped in horrified astonishment, “Fuck that! Blow this shithole Sara! Leave this place up and what’s to stop the kett from filling it back up again!”

Sara looked at Jaal’s darkened expression as the Moshae spoke up determinedly, “Even if I die in this place, it must be destroyed.”

Jaal looked aghast as he panickily replied to his mentor, “We can come back later to destroy it. Let’s free those here now! Ryder, please!” He stared pleadingly at Sara. Victoria saw her sister’s answer before she even spoke the words.

Sara turned to the Cardinal begrudgingly and spoke softly, “All right… release the angara.”

The look of absolute satisfaction on the kett’s face would haunt Victoria’s dreams as she enacted an emergency shut down that would release all the angara.

“Jaal have the Resistance pick up as many angara before the kett arrive.” Sara ordered their angaran team mate. Jaal nodded and gave her the most grateful look. In any other situation, Victoria knew her sister would have melted. As it was, Victoria felt anger pulsing through her veins at her sister’s actions. This would bite them in the ass, she had no doubts.

The Cardinal took a step backwards, as if in retreat, and began to say, “I thank you. I see you begin to understand the gift that the kett bring to all of Andromeda…”

Sara unholstered her gun and in a deadly voice answered, “Not likely” and shot the kett right between the eyes. The Cardinal fell to the floor in a lifeless heap as the crew stared at the slain kett in disgust.

“She deserved much worse.” Moshae Sjefa said coldly.

Victoria looked at her in surprise, somewhat shocked to hear such vehemence in the woman’s voice. She had assumed the Moshae would be a peaceful figure, but it seemed that perhaps this was not the case. There went the Dali Lama image she had begun to cultivate…

Jaal contacted their pilot and told him to meet them on the rooftop of the facility. They ran to the side of the room where a lift waited and took them further up. They reached the rooftop and Victoria nearly flew back as the doors opened and the wind nearly blew her off her feet. Jaal steadied her and they moved forward. A group of kett rushed towards them and the team was immediately put on the defensive. The kett were ruthless in their charge and Victoria could feel her strength beginning to seep. A blue orb of light suddenly surrounded them and shielded them from the bullets flying out at them.

“I will help! Stand around me!” Moshae Sjefa cried. Somehow, she was using her bioelectrical field to shield them. Victoria was grateful even as Jaal yelled for her to save her strength.

Regardless of Jaal’s concern, the Moshae led them forward and the team began to pick off the kett that surrounded them. They moved slowly forward until they finally reached the landing pad, but their vessel was nowhere in sight. Commander Heckt seemed to have heard their thoughts and spoke over the comms.

“Pathfinder, you have the Moshae?” he asked, and Sara answered in affirmation. He told them to hang tight for a few moments while they reached them. As he logged off, in the distance, Victoria saw a flurry of movement. New kett were on the approach… and, what looked like a…

“Fiend!” Sara cried out.

Victoria groaned in horror. She hated fiends. The team began to dart around the platform, keeping the kett at bay while they waited for the ship. Kett fell to their bullets, but they kept on coming. It seemed like endless waves and soon the fiend approached them with a booming roar.

Victoria screamed in terror as its claws swiped out at them. Where the hell was the ship? The storm was slowing beginning to pick up and kett seemed to be appearing out of thin air around them. Victoria and Jaal focused on the fiend while Sara and Cora defended both sides of the platform, but they were slowly being overwhelmed. Not even the Moshae could help now as her strength faded rapidly.

Cora yelled into their comm, “We need an evac NOW!”

The pilot replied hurriedly over the comm as it crackled, the winds distorting the signal, “I can’t land!”

Sara answered back, “Pull up to the side of the roof and we’ll take it from there!”

Victoria shot round after round at the fiend before her but felt despair begin to engulf her. She was going to die here. Surviving so much so far, and here she felt like she would truly die. She and Jaal finally brought the fiend down but the victory was short-lived as a mass of kett rushed towards them in a massive horde accompanied by yet another fiend.

But finally, their prayers were answered because not too far off in the sky, there came their shuttle. They were saved!

The team followed Sara as she yelled for them to run. The ship landed on a section of the platform that stuck out slightly and the doors opened for them. Inside, Commander Heckt, Skaelv, and Owwin awaited them with outstretched arms. Jaal lifted the Moshae to him and flung himself into the ship as Cora followed quickly behind. Sara grabbed Victoria’s arm and tossed her in unceremoniously, but she was luckily caught by Owwin who secured her to him as Sara jumped in backwards, still shooting at the swarm of kett. She shot and killed at least 5 kett before the ship jerked quickly into the sky, taking them far far away from the horror palace that was the kett facility. They were safe.


	18. Shifting Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team make it back to Aya. Victoria thinks she may be getting closer to happiness...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We just keep moving!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The flight back to the Resistance base was a bit of a blur. Not only was everyone physically tired, they were emotionally drained. The impact of this trip would have repercussions for both the angara and the Milky Way races respectively. Victoria sat in silence and tried to rest her racing mind. Images of the horrific things she had seen kept flashing in her mind’s eye and she mentally cringed away from them. Sara seemed to be in the same place she was as she could see vague images and thoughts coming through the link. She knew her sister was experiencing internal turmoil, wondering if she had made the right call in leaving the kett facility intact. Victoria didn’t think it was, but she would back up her sister if the Initiative came down on the Pathfinder. It would be harder to defend Sara from the Resistance however. This was directly tied to the angara, yet it was Sara who made the tough decisions here and she wondered how Evfra would react when news reached him of Sara’s actions.

They reached the base and immediately made a beeline for the Tempest. Victoria needed to craft a report of what happened for the Initiative and she knew she needed to speak to Commander Do Xeel, but she just didn’t have the mental capacity for anything like that. Her first order of business was making sure Moshae Sjefa reached the Resistance in one piece before anything else. She hoped Heckt and his team would provide a decent report for them and she would forward one later to both Evfra and Commander Do Xeel. They all entered the Tempest quietly, Jaal and Sara leading the Moshae in and to Lexi’s office. Victoria went straight to her room, stripped down to her under armor, and plopped down on her bed. She looked around the room in semi-detachment. It was strange that only an hour or two ago she was in the fight of her life and now, here she was, in the midst of normalcy. She rubbed her hands along her face in frustration and stress. The door swished open and Sara walked in looking conflicted and upset. Victoria patted the bed for Sara to come sit next to her and she did. Sara sat down heavily and stared off into space for a minute before she turned and hugged Victoria to her. They squeezed each other tight, trying to reground and reassure themselves that they were still alive and well.

Sara pulled away after a moment and sighed heavily before saying quietly, “So, the Moshae just chewed me out…” Victoria quirked a brow at her for her to continue. Sara looked at her clasped hands before she kept talking, “She didn’t agree with my decision. She thinks I don’t care for her people… but I do. How could I let those people die Tori?”

Victoria looked at her sister empathetically. “Sara… that’s the burden of leadership. Sometimes, you make choices that not everyone is going to agree with but that’s the tough shit.” Victoria hesitated before saying, “I…don’t agree either. But, it was your choice and I’m with you a hundred and ten percent. We just gotta get through this.”

Sara nodded dejectedly before standing and moving to her side of the room to change into comfier clothes. The sisters changed into their sleeping clothes and sat on their individual beds silently for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Not even SAM had a word to say, seeming to be contemplating the whole situation and content to remain silent for the time being.

Victoria took a deep breath, trying to piece together the thought she had since the ride back to their ship. She hoped Sara would understand. “Sara. There’s, something I want to tell you… just, don’t be upset?” She looked at her sister uncertainly. Sara seemed tense as well, clearly expecting something bad. Here went nothing.

“I don’t think I want to be included in missions like this again.”

Sara looked at Victoria blankly, clearly processing the words. Victoria bit her lip in worry.

“So,” Sara started but then stopped. She tried again, “So, you’re quitting the team?”

Victoria shook her head hurriedly, “No, not at all. I just, don’t think I’m cut out for these high-risk missions. I’m no solider, let’s face it. You made a tough call and I nearly fought you on it and I just can’t stomach it.” She paused to sort through her thoughts and glance at her sister who remained impassive. She continued, “I still want to go out on the field occasionally, but maybe just like first-contact missions, diplomacy matters, things like that. Anything that may have to do with making the hard calls? Please, count me out.” Victoria breathed out a sigh of relief, glad she had finished her speech, but now anxiously waiting for her sister’s answer.

Sara sat quietly for a beat before nodding her head slowly. “Ok.” She simply said.

Victoria looked at her dumbfounded, “Ok? That’s it?”

“Yeah. I know you’re not into all the fighting and stuff, so that’s cool.”

Victoria gave a small huff. “I at least expected a why? Shit, I didn’t know I was that bad…”

Sara laughed quietly at that. “No, you weren’t bad. Sure, Dad might have made some comments, but I know you can handle yourself out there. I mostly kept you out there because, well, I wanted my family with me…”

Victoria felt her heart contract painfully before she replied, “Sara… I’m sorry. Believe me, if I could be out there with you always, I would. I’m just not cut out for it like you or Dad.”

Sara shifted on her bed to look more directly at her sister. “Hey, really. Don’t sweat it. If you’re with me, even if it’s not physically beside me, I’ll be alright.” Sara gave her a small but genuine smile and Victoria felt a bit better.

“Get some rest, Tor. We’ll be on Aya in three days and, frankly, you look like shit. It’s not cute.”

A pillow sailed through the air and right smack into Sara’s face before the last word was even out of her mouth.

_**8 Hours Later.** _

After a fitful sleep, Victoria woke feeling a bit better about the events that occurred on Voeld. The deed was done and now they had to move forward. That was all they could do at this point. Victoria took a swift shower and dressed quickly. She wanted to speak with Moshae Sjefa and see what she thought of the whole situation.

She made her way to Lexi’s office and peeked into the room when the doors swished open. Inside, Jaal was sitting next to a bed the Moshae occupied and where they were conversing quietly. Lexi was at her desk going over random datapads and going through her console. Victoria stepped fully into the room and cleared her throat delicately to catch the two angara’s attention. They both stopped talking and looked curiously at the ambassador who felt her face lightly flush as their wide eyes took in her every move. Lexi turned and tilted her head in a silent question.

Victoria cleared her throat again and said, “I just wanted to know if I could speak to the Moshae…?”

The Moshae looked amused before airily saying, “You can, as I am right here.”

Victoria looked between Jaal and the Moshae, unsure if she had been insulting, but they both just looked vaguely entertained. She assumed she was ok to continue.

Victoria laughed nervously, “Right. Just wasn’t sure if I needed to ask for an audience before approaching.”

Lexi looked at her sternly before crossing her arms in an intimidating fashion. “Not too long Victoria – she’s in a fragile state.” Lexi nodded at her and the other two angara and left the room.

The Moshae looked perplexed as she asked, “Did she just call me frail?”

Victoria bit her lip to hide her amused grin, “Fragile. Though, she’s 275 years old so we’re all fragile to her.”

She laughed softly and gazed at Victoria. “Jaal tells me you’re an ambassador from the Milky Way.”

Victoria nodded. “I was just wondering if we could speak a little. I’d like to get to know you a bit better.”

The Moshae paused before replying, “While I’m not happy with how things ended on Voeld, I would be glad to speak with you.” Victoria paused and wondered what she meant by that, but her question was answered. “Your sister, I believe, made the wrong decision. But you understood what was at stake. I can’t fault you for her mistake.”

Victoria bit her lip to hold in her response. She wanted to defend her sister but also knew her sister was in the wrong. So, she held her tongue and instead said, “It was a difficult choice, but no one won back there.”

“To make such a difficult choice, you were brave to try and stand up to your sister.”

Victoria wanted to change the subject, one to get away from the topic of her sister and two because Jaal looked like he was getting upset. “So, that facility. What’s the purpose?”

“They call it exaltation.” She began and sighed heavily, “They believe, that those they exalt are given a great gift.”

Jaal growled, “Gift?” His body trembled with barely restrained rage before pressing on, “They snatch us! Defile and shatter us! Or, the ones we love…. I, can’t…” he turned away in pain and tried to calm himself down.

The Moshae watched him sadly as she continued, “It’s a complex genetic construct; an interchange of traits that the kett use to advance their species.”

Victoria mulled over her words to try and simplify it for herself. She wasn’t a geneticist, or anything STEM related, but this was heavy shit.

“So,” Victoria said slowly, “they steal genes? But, why?”

“Reproduction.”

A ringing silence fell at Moshae Sjefa’s words. Victoria supposed it made sense, she didn’t really see the kett boning so… a form of cloning was the next logical solution.

“Domination. Tyranny. Annihilation!” Jaal nearly shouted. Victoria felt her hands start to flutter in anxiousness. Jaal was quite terrifying when he was worked up and there were no kett around that he could kill.

The Moshae placed a calming hand on his arm and he settled once more. “Yes. And yet, the Archon didn’t take me to his ship to transform me.”

That gave Victoria pause. That was true. While she was grateful that wasn’t the case, it was strange. The kett weren’t known for hesitation, they were doers. If the goal was to keep reproducing, why keep the Moshae an angara?

The Moshae continued, “He brought me to him at his whim. Showed me Remnant technology and beat me when I wouldn’t answer him.”

Jaal growled angrily at the thought but Victoria ignored him as all the pieces began to click together, “Crap… Remnant?”

She smiled humorlessly, “He’s obsessed… like your sister.” Victoria looked at her in shock, but she was ignored, “Yes, Jaal’s told me. Your sister rescued me in hopes to get into Aya’s vault.”

Victoria sighed helplessly, “My sister is nothing like that monster. But, we’ve traveled so far to get here. We’ll die without places to settle. These vaults, like Aya’s, may be the key.”

The Moshae studied her intensely before nodding, “I hear your plea, like you heard mine. While your sister may not feel for my people, I feel for yours. Emotion must not get in the way of science, however. I will take your Pathfinder to the vault.”

Victoria felt her shoulders sag in relief. “Thank you.” She breathed out.

Jaal repeated her words as the Moshae nodded, “I’m happy to answer any other questions for you, Ambassador. Anytime.”

Victoria was about to start asking a million questions when Lexi, with impeccable timing, came into the room and shooed her out. So much for anytime. Victoria wandered around aimlessly for a few hours. She chatted with Drack about how Kesh was doing on the Nexus. He updated her on the rising tension between her and Spender and Victoria made a note to have Sara check it out. She stumbled upon Lexi and Peebee arguing in the walkway about asari culture, she stayed the hell away from that. Gil, Vetra, Cora were playing a game of poker in the cargo bay which she watched avidly. Cora seemed to be a sore loser and pouted every time Gil kicked her ass but too stubborn to back down from his taunts. Jaal and Sara were having a quiet conversation in the tech lab that Victoria backed away quietly from. She was happy they were getting along, not only as friends but as two differing species. Liam was in his room, and Victoria spent an hour talking with him about their respective homes. While it saddened her, it also left her with feelings of hope that they would make Andromeda their new home. When Victoria was in the galley having a snack, SAM notified her privately that she had new email from Evfra. She felt her cheeks redden slightly and Peebee, who had been getting herself a drink, saw her face, she knew the asari would pester her until she got answers.

Victoria tried to discreetly eat her protein bar as fast as she could, but she wasn’t fooling Peebee. “So, that bar so good you can’t contain yourself?” Peebee asked not-so-innocently.

Victoria sniffed disdainfully, “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean…”

Peebee set her glass down forcefully, a wicked smile gracing her face. “Come off it little Ryder. I know SAM told you something juicy. Someone banging down the hall or something?”

Victoria felt her eyes roll at the vulgarity. Leave it to Peebee to be so crass. She decided her best course of action was to remain silent and she shoved the last piece of the bar, which was a rather large piece, into her mouth so she wouldn’t be able to speak. This didn’t deter the asari in the least.

“SAM, what’s our Ambassador so shy about?” Peebee sing-songed towards the ceiling.

Victoria didn’t even have time to string together a coherent thought to send to SAM through their link before SAM blandly blurted out, “Victoria has received an email from…”

Victoria panickily spit her food out into her palm and shrieked out, “Shut up SAM!”

The damage was done and Peebee gasped in mock scandal. “Our dear, sweet, innocent Tori has a special pen pal? Do tell!”

Victoria glared at the empty air around them, “SAM you open your goddamn mouth and we will have words!”

SAM, thankfully, remained silent, seemingly baffled by the interaction unfolding in the galley. Peebee huffed in annoyance but grew a thoughtful look on your face. “Ok, SAM won’t answer me? Let’s ask your sister.” She pulled up her omnitool and connected to Sara’s. “Hey Ryder? Come to the galley real quick? Your sister’s got a special friend she’s hiding…”

They didn’t even have to wait 15 seconds before they heard running in the walkway above them. They heard the sound of hands screeching along the ladder’s rails as if the person coming down them was in a huge rush and suddenly there was Sara standing in the doorway of the galley.

“Come again?” She asked breathlessly.

Peebee cackled as Victoria slammed her head against the kitchen table. “Your sister got an email a few minutes ago that SAM notified her privately about. You should have seen her face! She went bright red. Just thought you would be interested…”

Sara bit her lip excitedly and bounced on the balls of her feet. “So? Who is it? Please tell me it’s Kandros!”

Peebee clapped her hands together in excitement. “The turian at the Nexus? Oh, he’s yummy. Though, I saw you making eyes at Commander Heckt when he helped you all get back to the Tempest. He did have some nice muscles, but I didn’t like his color that much…”

Victoria groaned in annoyance. Why were they being so annoying? Sara gave a thoughtful hum. “So, SAM knows huh? Alright SAM, tell me who sent my sister an email.”

SAM hesitated for a moment before saying, “Victoria has forbidden me from divulging this information to Ms. Pelessaria…”

Sara scoffed, “I’m not Peebee, I’m the captain of this ship.”

SAM answered promptly, “The ambassador has received a correspondence from Commander Evfra de Tershaav from his personal email.”

Victoria groaned in embarrassment as Sara and Peebee shrieked in delight. They both plopped down on either side of her in the booth and began pelting her with questions.

“How long has this been going on!?”

“The angry one from Aya that held you at gunpoint?!”

“Have you two been together for long?”

“You made it official?”

The last question came from the door of the galley. All three looked towards the door where Jaal was standing looking at Victoria in a mixture of shock and happiness.

“You knew?!” Sara exclaimed.

Jaal nodded simply and said, “Tori disclosed this to me on Havarl.”

Sara gaped at her sister in mock betrayal. “You’ve been messaging Evfra for almost a week and a half and didn’t say anything?”

Victoria shoved her sister out of her way with her hip to get out from both the booth and away from the two prying women impatiently. She made her way to the door and nudged Jaal aside before turning back to her team mates. “First, nothing is going on between me and the commander.” Sara opened her mouth to protest but Victoria shut her up with a look. “Second, Evfra and I are just exchanging information on missions and such. Nothing lascivious is going. Now, please excuse me while I answer my email.” With that she stomped away from the 6 pairs of prying eyes that followed her out of the room.

A beat passed before Victoria sulked back into the room. She walked into the room and deposited the mushed up and somewhat liquid-y protein bar still in her hand into the trash with as much dignity as she could muster, before skulking out again. Victoria had never heard such raucous laughter from her team mates before.

The email she had received from Evfra had been extremely short, even by Evfra standards:

Correspondence from Personal Terminal

To: Victoria

From: Evfra

Your report of the kett base will be

needed immediately before your arrival

on Aya.

 

Victoria scoffed. The man had such a way with words. Well, she supposed she would need to write a report anyway, not only for Commander Do Xeel, but also for the Initiative. She got to work on the report and spent over two hours on it before she was done. She realistically could have finished within an hour, but she kept finding herself daydreaming. She imagined Evfra standing at his window, his back turned from the entrance of his office. The bright light filtering in would darken his form but would leave his silhouette enticingly prominent. His broad shoulders on full display. He would turn at the sound of her entering and quirk his mouth in a small smile.... Victoria shook her head to dispel the daydream and continued her report. She sent it to Evfra immediately, then forwarded the document to Director Tann and Voeld’s Resistance base. Damn paperwork.

The trip back to Aya seemed to be taking forever. Victoria loved spending time with her squad, but she needed to feel solid ground underneath her feet soon. Victoria continued having lengthy discussions with her team and getting to know everyone better. She even had a very lovely conversation with Jaal about family and her family in particular. She was enthralled with angaran culture and how big their families were. It reminded her of her biological Mexican American family and she told this to Jaal who paused in confusion.

“Sara is, what was the word Liam used… Caucasian? She isn’t your biological sister?” He asked bewilderedly.

She shook her head and explained what had happened all those years ago. His large expressive eyes began to fill with tears. “You mean, you were taken from your family? As a child?”

Victoria nodded awkwardly as Jaal gasped in horror. He pulled her to him in a rough hug and squeezed her tightly to him. Victoria tried to hug back as much as she could but felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs. “Jaal! I’m ok! Really, the Ryder family were very generous in taking me in!”

Jaal pulled away to look at her and wiped the tears that were on his face roughly. “We angara are very close to our families. I know what it is like to lose family… it is, the worst feeling.”

Victoria looked down and deliberated her next words before replying, “There was a time where I wondered how I would go on without my family. But then I realized, my family wouldn’t want me to waste my life over something that was already past. In my culture, we mourn our family’s deaths but also celebrate the life they had. My family, wasted away, when they should have been living each day to its fullest. The best I can do is carry their memory with me and keep going. Plus, I love my adopted family. They took me in when they didn’t have to. I owe them everything.”

Jaal nodded and they continued talking about other things, but from that moment on, Jaal had been more brotherly to her. It was nice to have an older brother figure again, one who liked to tease her endlessly and prank her but always affectionately.

Yes, it had been nice, but after what felt like an eternity, they finally breached the Onaon system. They would be reaching Aya within an hour and Victoria was frantically looking through her closet for a cute but professional outfit. She finally settled on a long flowy white t-shirt dress and her hair straight. She tried to calm herself and was pacing around the cargo bay while she waited for Kallo’s word that they were approaching Aya. She had been so focused on walking back and forth that she hadn’t heard the Moshae enter the cargo bay and didn’t notice until she cleared her throat pointedly. Victoria startled and felt her face go red as the Moshae studied her carefully. She and the angaran scientist had talked often during the trip and had grown to form an easy acquaintance.

“People don’t pace like that unless they are about to face a high-risk mission or seeing someone they like after a long time. I wonder, which is it for you?”

Victoria narrowed her eyes at her. Damn perceptive angara. “Let’s say, it’s a bit of both.”

The Moshae laughed lightly. “I see. Well, I suppose all will be revealed when we reach Aya.” Victoria bit her lip nervously as she continued. “Don’t worry, I won’t ruin your secret.”

Victoria sighed and nodded her head, “Thank you Moshae.”

The team finally made their way down as Kallo announced they had breached the planet’s atmosphere. Show time.

The Tempest descended through the clouds and soon they were reaching the docking bay on Aya. Victoria took a deep breath as the ramp descended before her. An arm looped through her and she turned to see that it was the Moshae. She didn’t look at her but instead began to walk down the ramp forcing Victoria to move with her. Jaal and Sara followed closely after them and the rest of the team followed. The sunny skies welcomed them as they walked out of the Tempest and a swell of noise reached their ears. A large crowd had gathered at the dock and when the gathered angara saw the Moshae, the cheers were overwhelming. The Moshae, however, took it in stride and began to wave at the assembled crowd with grand gestures. Victoria felt like she was walking with a celebrity and in some ways, she kind of was. There, at the end of the pathway was Paaran Shie who was waving back to Moshae Sjefa. To her side, her assistant was there and on her other side was Evfra. Victoria smiled happily at him, feeling her heart pounding harder. He looked back with an impassive face and had his arms crossed, but she liked to believe that in the depths of his eyes she could tell he was pleased to at least see the Moshae.

Victoria had kept her gaze so intent on the angaran man in front of her, she hadn’t noticed they had come to a halt and the Moshae and Paaran were greeting each other in the angaran custom. She also missed the knowing look Moshae Sjefa threw her and Evfra, who hadn’t stopped looking back at the ambassador. She finally tuned in when she heard her title being used.

“Without the Resistance, the Pathfinder, and the Ambassador, I wouldn’t be here.” Moshae Sjefa finished saying.

Sara stepped forward and shyly said, “Well, we all made a good team.”

Jaal nodded, “We freed more than just the Moshae. And the Pathfinder killed a kett leader.”

“We have a lot to celebrate.” Evfra said roughly. Victoria quirked a brow at him, wondering what kind of celebration he had in mind when Sara gave her a small shove from behind. Victoria put her hand behind her back and flipped her sister off discreetly. Evfra noticed their small movements and looked at them suspiciously but turned his attention back to the Moshae as she said that she had promised she would take Sara to the vault on Aya.

“You’re still recovering,” Sara said hurriedly, “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.”

Evfra scoffed and replied. “Not without our help.”

Sara clearly wanted to snipe back but the Moshae let Sara know that she would prepare a shuttle to take them to the vault when she had rested for a moment. With that, a few angara came forward to bring the Moshae further into Aya where she would most likely be taken to be examined.

Paaran Shie stepped forward and stated, “We’ve been alone against the kett for too long. You’ve proven it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s time we discussed an alliance between our people.”

Victoria beamed at Paaran. “We’re happy to provide room for you on the Nexus. Though,” she threw Evfra a teasing look, “we may need to speak to your Resistance leader on how he feels about that. What do you say Evfra, trust us?”

Evfra crossed his arms grumpily, “If I don’t like where the discussions are going, I’ll end it. I have no problem speaking my mind.”

She felt her squad tense at his comment, but Victoria chuckled. It seemed only she got his sense of sarcasm. “Commander, believe me, I know you speak your mind. I appreciate that in a man.”

Sara threw her an incredulous face at her daring, but Victoria blew her off. Instead she was watching Evfra’s face to see his reaction. He merely quirked a brow at her as Paaran promised to make an embassy for the Milky Way species.

“Our city is open to you. Join us.” She finished and turned and walked away.

Victoria and Sara turned to each other and high-fived at their success. Things were looking up for them. She felt a presence besides her and turned to see who was standing near her. Evfra had walked closer to them but only spared her a fleeting look as he turned his attention to Jaal.

“Well done, Jaal.” He gruffly praised. “Report for reassignment.”

Victoria gasped in shock. Jaal was leaving them? Victoria looked to her friend who seemed momentarily shocked as well.

“I need to stay with the Pathfinder.” Jaal stated calmly.

Victoria looked back at Evfra’s face who seemed a bit taken aback by Jaal’s refusal. Sara stepped forward and timidly said, “Jaal has become a valued member of my crew.”

Evfra, imposing and rigid Evfra, nearly rolled his eyes as he replied, “Of course he has.” He shook his head in annoyance at his soldier’s inability to not be well-liked before he pressed on, “I see the benefit. Request granted.”

Victoria nearly rolled herself eyes at that. Jaal wasn’t asking, he was saying. But whatever made Evfra happy. Jaal turned to Sara to make sure she wouldn’t leave Aya without him before wandering off to the Resistance to turn in his mission report. Evfra stayed a beat longer and gave Victoria a nearly civil nod before following after Jaal. Victoria quirked her mouth to hide her smile.

Sara nudged her shoulder as the other team members moved past them to go exploring around Aya’s markets. “That went well. That was basically a hug by Evfra standards, right?”

Victoria shrugged, “We’re civil, ok? Anyway, I need to run some errands. Didn’t Liam want you to meet him at the market?”

Sara nodded, “I’ll meet him then see if the Moshae is ready to go to the vault. I need to get hustling on this. We’re close to figuring this out Tor, I can feel it.”

They said their goodbyes and Victoria sought out Sohkaa. After confirming that, yes, that had been a test, Sohkaa said that they would be able to trade. It felt good to be able to start an economy between the different species. Money was a language any species understood, and this would be an effective way to get communication between the angara and the Milky Way species going.

She decided that she would go visit Paaran Shie in the governor’s office. If they were to get an embassy, she needed to start getting the details soon. After being directed by some helpful but suspicious angara, she finally found the right building. She entered and Paaran’s assistant pointed her to the door behind him. She entered the room and saw the governor looking out a window that held the view of the bustling market below them. Paaran didn’t turn to look at her as she approached the angaran woman carefully.

After a moment of silence Paaran spoke, “When I first escorted you through our city, I wasn’t sure it was the right decision.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “But, you proved I was wrong to doubt. No. More than that. What was done to my people… you saved so many of them from exaltation.”

Victoria took a small breath and exhaled slowly, “Well, that was my sister’s doing, but, we’re all in this together. We’re here to help. If this is to be our home, we need to help.”

Paaran nodded and finally turned to look at her fully, “Yes. I suppose you’re right. What can I do for you, Ambassador?”

Victoria hesitated before asking, “Well, I wanted to chat about the embassy, but maybe that can come later. For now, I was wondering about the Resistance. I sense, tension? Between your government and them. Who’s actually in charge?”

Paaran laughed. “Evfra likes giving orders, right until the actual work of running a city starts. The Resistance is good at protecting our people from the kett, but we need more than that. I’ve learned to indulge Evfra’s need for control just often enough to maintain my own.”

Victoria paused, suddenly unsure if she should push further on the topic, but she was morbidly curious. It sounded like…there was more to this story. “Well, I’m hoping you can get me, I mean, my team on Evfra’s good side.”

“If I knew how to do that, my job would be much simpler.” Paaran scoffed.

Oh shit, there really was something there. Victoria decided it was now or never. “So, sometimes it seems like you two don’t get along at all, and other times…”

Paaran sighed, as if in regret, before replying, “He’s a brilliant tactician and inspiring leader. We just, disagree on what’s best for our people. He believes secrecy and isolation keep us safe.”

“What do you believe?” Victoria asked timidly.

“We can’t defeat the kett alone,” she said forcefully, “and neither can your Initiative.”

Victoria nodded. “So, you have a lot fun stuff to do around here?” She felt the need to pry further and this would be a good way to see how the governor spent her evenings.

“The tavetaan is a popular spot for recreational activity.”

Victoria looked at her in confusion. That was the most robotic answer she had ever heard. She pressed on, “You go there often then?”

Paaran shook her head, “My work keeps me busy. Productivity is the best form of relaxation.”

Victoria hummed thoughtfully. Perhaps there wasn’t anything going on between the two angaran leaders. If she was married to her work, maybe Evfra wasn’t taken. They talked a bit longer about random things. She asked about the differing accents and learned that Jaal’s was from Havarl, his birthplace, and Evfra’s was from Voeld, as she had suspected. After a while, Victoria left to go check out the Resistance HQ, it would be nice to see the place without being held at gunpoint, at least openly. She strolled through Aya’s streets, marveling at the lush environment around her, and the array of angara who walked around. She hoped to one day be able to walk the streets of a city her people and the angara can build together.

She reached HQ and ascended the stairs quickly. As she walked through the doors, she was met by many stares, some curious and some openly hostile. She tried her best to ignore the looks and made her way to Evfra’s office. He was standing at his desk, arms crossed as per usual, and a Resistance officer was detailing the Archon’s anger.

“More than usual?” He asked, “About what specifically? The Moshae being rescued?”

The officer nodded, “Definitely the Moshae being rescued. They’re still using adaptive encryption, but from what I can tell, things are getting ugly. Someone will be sacrificed to this anger. Soon, at this rate.”

Victoria approached the duo as Evfra nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Less kett to deal with.” Evfra looked at her steadily as he dismissed the officer. He narrowed his eyes at her before saying, “I expect you to take good care of Jaal out there.”

Victoria gave him a small smile. “I knew there was a heart under all that bluster. Don’t worry, we will. I’m sure he’ll return the favor.”

Evfra snorted, “Don’t worry about him. Your sister saved the Moshae. That earned his loyalty.” He turned around and moved towards the window behind him and Victoria followed. He turned his face towards her and stared down at her. Victoria did her best to not feel too small. “Still wrapping my head around what you found at the kett facility. That… “exaltation”.”

Victoria shuddered as she thought about the endless pods filled with entranced angara. “The more we learn about the kett, the easier it will be to fight back and hurt them where it counts.”

“The more I know, the more I want to hurt them.”

The violence in his voice scared Victoria. She looked at Evfra in alarm, noting the fire in his eyes. His passion was admirable but rather intimidating. He seemed to shake himself out of his ire and sighed. “Anyway, what did you need?”

Victoria thought about it for a moment before asking “What’s your story Evfra?”

He grunted, “You’re not getting my personnel file.”

“Come on. I’m sure Jaal’s told you everything about me.”

Evfra turned to fully face her. “You want to know what it’s like to be me?” Victoria nodded resolutely. “I wake up every morning to fight a war. I send people to kill and die. If I’m lucky, there are more dead kett than Resistance when I go to sleep.”

Victoria looked at him sympathetically. “That’s a hell of a burden.”

“Enough personal discussion,” he growled.

Victoria held her hands up in mock surrender. “All I want to say is, I’m here if you need anything.” Evfra hmphed and she changed the subject. “What do you think of your governor?” She tried to sound innocent and casual.

Evfra seemed to sense the underlying question that she wasn’t saying outright and simply said, “She governs Aya, not the Resistance.”

She gave him an unconvinced look, “Way to avoid the question.” She sighed and asked carefully, afraid of the answer, “Is there… history between you two?”

“I can always count on Paaran to offer a… spirted argument.”

The way he said that made Victoria quirk her head at him and ask, “So, you respect her?”

He shrugged casually. “She holds her own. Not many do.”

Victoria nodded. It didn’t seem like anything was going on between them, at least on Evfra’s part. That made her feel a bit better. She bid Evfra a goodbye, as she could tell he was getting impatient to get back to work and left HQ. She went to go find Liam who was having a drink at the tavetaan. They chatted for a few minutes and were joined by Drack who complained that the drinks were too tame. The bartender seemed offended at the notion but remained silent, seeming to not want to confront the intimidating krogan. They were soon joined by Sara who had just come from the vault.

“The Moshae wanted to meet up at the Resistance. She thinks they might have a lead on the Archon’s ship.”

Victoria nodded, slightly bewildered. “Ok? Not sure why we want to go find that asshole…”

Sara laughed humorlessly, “Yeah, this is gonna be a shit show. I’ll explain on the way.”

They said their goodbyes to their team mates and walked back to HQ. Sara explained that like the vault on Eos, this vault showed a map of Heleus, only this time all the systems converged on one central spot.

“The Archon called it Meridian.” Sara stated. “We think, it controls all the terraforming networks. We need to infiltrate the Archon’s ship because he may hold a key to getting access to Meridian.”

Victoria heaved a sigh. “Sara, this is heavy shit. There’s no way Nexus leadership is going to ok this.”

They reached the Resistance base and paused before going in. “Tori, we need to get there, with or without permission. This is the key to everyone’s survival. Let’s take baby steps. First, we need to get Evfra on board.” They walked into the base and were immediately greeted to a large group huddled outside Evfra’s door. Everyone was silent, but the sisters could hear shouting coming from within Evfra’s office. It vaguely sounded like the Moshae. They pushed their way through the crowd and walked into the Resistance leader’s office where he was receiving the biggest lecture of his life it seemed.

“I deserved to be told!” The Moshae slammed a fist on Evfra’s desk, sending a datapad flying to the floor. Neither took notice as she continued berating Evfra. “You had no right to keep it a secret from me!”

Evfra tried placating her, “It’s an ongoing investigation. I meant no disrespect…”

The Moshae pushed away from the desk and rolled her shoulders to ease the tension in them. Victoria and Sara creeped slowly closer as she asked dangerously quiet, “Did Jaal know?”

“Of course not!” He looked entirely affronted. That’s when he spotted the two sisters and his face morphed into anger. “Neither did the humans.”

Victoria scoffed angrily, “We could have kept SAM a secret.” She approached the angara and glared angrily at Evfra.

He glared right back at her and spat out, “This is different. Not your business.”

Her jaw tightened in pure rage and Victoria felt her chest began to constrict. So much for trusting her. The Moshae stepped in before Victoria could get a word in. “It is now. We need to find the kett command ship.” She turned to face Evfra and jabbed a finger at him. “Tell her the truth about my capture.”

“Moshae, please…” Evfra nearly begged.

“It may be our only route to the Archon.”

Evfra’s head dropped slightly, as if in shame, before replying, “One of my men…helped the kett take her. A Resistance commander named Vehn Terev.”

Sara looked shocked. “One of your own gave her to the Archon’s ship? No wonder you hushed it up.”

This only served to infuriate Victoria further. “This isn’t about hiding the truth! This is about you trying to cover your ass for one of your people’s fuck ups! And you say we can’t be trusted?”

The Moshae nodded along to Victoria’s words and Evfra grimaced but held his tongue. He knew she was right, but he would be too proud to say it aloud. He swallowed his argument and turned to the Moshae. “I’m working to capture him. Make him answer for what he did.”

“You know where he is?!”

Victoria rubbed a hand against her temple. Man, Evfra knew how to dig his own grave. He just kept going, didn’t he?

“Kadara Port.” He begrudgingly said. “My contacts are hunting him.”

“Contacts?” The Moshae scoffed, “You can’t trust anyone there. They deserted our cause. Our people.”

“And now, they’re ruled by exiles…” Evfra shot a dirty look at both sisters, “from your galaxy.”

Victoria rolled her eyes as the Moshae spoke to Sara. She and Evfra were locked in the strangest staring contest, neither willing to back down from the other. They were interrupted as the Moshae described what Kadara was.

“We deserted it when the kett invaded…” she finished saying and Evfra jumped on her sentence.

“Some of us went back.” He said in disgust. “Deserters. Scavengers. They don’t support Aya.”

Sara naively asked, “How did exiles from the Nexus wind up there?”

“Bad luck, for everyone.” Evfra replied heatedly.

“Just shut up.” Victoria sneered. “Be helpful or zip it, Evfra.”

His face tightened in rage, but Sara cut in between the two, “Look, this isn’t helping. I need the relic that leads to Meridian, and we can handle our people. Let me do this.”

Victoria looked at Evfra. He seemed to be having an internal war within himself. She wondered what side would win.

“I don’t like this…” Evfra said crossly.

Moshae Sjefa interrupted him, “I don’t care. The Pathfinder is right.”

Evfra sighed warily and rubbed his head in clear frustration, but he wouldn’t argue with the Moshae. He glared at Victoria. “I’ll transfer my files on Kadara Port to you, Ambassador.”

His shoulders and head hung in defeat and Victoria felt suddenly bad for speaking to him so rudely. He just wanted to protect his people in his own strange way. She would speak to him after their meeting.

“We need our traitor alive,” the Moshae was saying, “he could have useful information. We need him in one piece.” Victoria and Sara nodded in understanding. “Be safe you two.” She turned to Evfra with a face of resolute wrath. “As for you, Evfra… we’re not done.”

Shit. Victoria and Sara booked it out of the room as Evfra continued to get his ass handed to him. Sure, Victoria felt bad, but he did deserve it. She decided to wait outside Evfra’s door to speak with him and to apologize. Sara went ahead to start collecting everyone to head out from Aya. They would need to discuss their plan of attack once they got on the ship, so Sara left to go begin preparations. It didn’t take long for the two angara to finish. The Moshae walked out of Evfra’s office, though she didn’t seem to be angry anymore so maybe that was a good sign.

“Safe to go in there?” Victoria asked somewhat jokingly.

The Moshae nodded, “He’s upset, but that’s not new. Go easy on him. He is fragile.” She smiled, “You certainly give him a run for his credits. I think that’s good for him.” With that, the Moshae walked off leaving Victoria slightly stunned. The woman was cleverer than anyone could ever give her credit.

She walked cautiously into the room, fully expecting to find a still irate angara, but Evfra was still at his desk, now looking through his version of an omnitool. He glanced up when he sensed her approach but looked down again. Seemed he was still a touch miffed. “The sooner you leave to Kadara, the sooner you find Vehn. What do you need?” The last part was practically snarled out, but Victoria held her ground.

“I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.” Victoria began. She waited a moment to see if Evfra would say anything but continued when he remained silent. “I guess, I was mad that you still don’t trust us…me after everything. I want this to work Evfra.”

He finally looked up at her. He looked at her with cold detachment. “There is nothing between us. I’ve sent the necessary information to your email. That should be enough.” He placed his hands firmly on his desk, clearly trying to intimidate her into backing off.

Victoria sharply inhaled and tried not to take his words too personal. She changed the subject, “Well, anyway… how do you think the other angara will take it when they learn someone in the Resistance betrayed their Moshae?”

Evfra sighed in frustration. “This treason is unprecedented. It will undermine faith in the Resistance.”

She felt even worse at Evfra’s face of dejection. It was obvious Evfra cared about his work and the reputation that he worked so hard to build. “Well, maybe if we prove Vehn worked alone, it might help…?”

He growled angrily, “It may not be enough.”

Victoria approached his desk and carefully laid a hand next to his and looked him in the eyes. She could see a myriad of emotions in them and thought of her next words carefully. As she tried to find the right words to say, she saw Evfra glance down at their hands, so different and yet not. His hands were large and seemed sturdy and hers were long and elegant, Victoria abstractedly thought they made a lovely picture side-by-side. He moved his hand suddenly and slowly rested it upon hers as Victoria carefully exhaled a breath in wonder. His hand was warmer than she had anticipated, fully expecting him to be as cold as the planet he had been born on and it to match his exceptionally frosty personality. She turned her palm up from under his hand and gave the side of his hand a slow stroke with her index finger, marveling at the roughness of his hand against her soft skin. She sighed contentedly.

“I haven’t lost faith in you, Evfra. Neither will they.”

They stayed like that for a moment before Evfra backed away from her abruptly. “I don’t care about your opinion.” He said harshly. “You’d better leave, you have what you need.”

Victoria unconsciously reached out for him. “Evfra…” she said quietly, hurt coloring her voice.

He ignored her quiet plea and turned his back to her. “I’ll keep in touch with Jaal. Your dismissed.”

Victoria took in a shuddering breath and willed herself not to cry as she left the Resistance base. She kept her head down, hoping no one would see her face, not that they would care about a crying human. Still, she didn’t need to let it be known that she had come out of Evfra’s office in tears. She practically ran inside the Tempest and brushed past all her team mates before they could ask any questions. Sara tried to call out for her, but Victoria blew her off and shut down their mental link. She made it to her room without further interruption where she threw herself into her bed and made sure all the lights were turned off before she finally broke down into tears. Tears of embarrassment and hurt. She thought that they had made a real connection there. Maybe, she was mistaken. She had worked herself up so much over a stupid crush and this is where it got her. She covered herself with her blankets and willed herself to sleep. She hoped when she woke she would feel better, but she completely doubted it.

_**Resistance HQ.** _

Evfra watched as the Tempest ascended into the sky and took off from Aya’s docking bay. He had the hand that touched Victoria’s cradled to his chest and was absently rubbing the skin that the human had caressed. He gazed out of his window and watched as the Tempest flew further and further away from him and felt the hollowness in his heart ache with an unfamiliar pang. He pushed the pain away and turned back to his desk to try and get some work done. But however hard Evfra tried, he couldn’t shake Victoria’s last words to him.

“I haven’t lost faith in you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/87/f9/69/87f9693d9afb5d74dec537ef6f6ffff7.jpg - dress


	19. When Juliet Meets Romeo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew lands in Kadara. Victoria, still nursing a broken heart, meets someone new and intriguing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry! This story is going to be long! But, can I tell you guys how excited I am for these new chapters?!?!!? Perhaps, I'll just show you... Make sure you check out the end notes! I have the song I'm referencing in the story down there!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

 

Victoria was not allowed to stay in bed for all of eternity, despite her wishes. Within two hours of leaving Aya, SAM was alerting her that Director Tann was ordering a conference call with her and the Pathfinder. Couldn’t these people let her die of embarrassment in peace? After a few minutes of wrestling with her responsibilities and her emotions, she finally rolled out of her bed and shucked on some comfy sweats and put her hair into a ponytail. She was in no mood to put on her façade of professionalism and grandeur.

Victoria shuffled to the meeting room, only encountering Jaal who looked at her in a mixture of alarm and pity. Maybe pity wasn’t the right word, but he did seem upset. She waved off her friend, she would seek him out later when the sting of rejection wasn’t so potent. As she walked up the ramp into the conference room, she could already see Sara’s head moving back and forth across the room. Ah, her sister was already agitated, she wouldn’t be pacing so vigorously if she wasn’t. Victoria looked at her sister in vague amusement while her back was turned to her. Tann could really get to her it seemed.

Victoria cleared her throat and Sara whipped around to face her. The look on her face was not one she was expecting to see, however. Annoyance, maybe. Impatience, most definitely. The look on Sara’s face, however, was pure anger. Victoria took a step back, unsure if she had done something wrong. Sara answered her silent question quickly.

“Do I need to turn this ship around and go kick some angaran ass? Just say the word Tori, and I’ll blow the fucker right out of the sky! I can’t believe….!”

Victoria lifted her hands to silence her sister’s ranting. She was thoroughly confused about this outburst. No one knew what had happened between her and Evfra, so how on Earth did she know? “Ok Sara. Break it down for me. What’s going on?”

Sara gave her the most incredulous face, but before she could continue her rant, SAM notified them that Tann was vidcalling them at this very moment. Sara threw her a look that said they would continue this conversation. Victoria smiled sarcastically. Gee, she couldn’t wait.

Tann’s arrogant face was suddenly floating before them. Victoria held back a grimace of annoyance. She had forgotten how smug the man’s face could get. Victoria tried to plaster a polite smile on her face. “Director Tann, we have good news. The angara want to open an embassy for us on Aya.”

Tann nodded. “That is, a surprise. What are their expectations?”

“Well,” Victoria sighed, “We’ve convinced them we’re friends and allies.”

Sara muttered under breath, “Try not to mess it up…”

Tann heard her, however, and glared at Sara. “I do not “mess it up”.” Tann shook his head. “I will gather envoys and send them to Aya. Thank you, Pathfinder, Ambassador. We’ll take it from here.”

Victoria really did grimace this time. While she didn’t fancy spending more time an Aya then necessary, she knew she had to get more involved and not leave it to the Nexus alone. She cleared her throat and tried to find a way to delicately put this. “Director, if I may? The angara trust the Pathfinder team. Sending strangers without a representative that they trust could end badly. I’d like to request to be that person to assist in the process of setting up our embassy.”

Tann considered her for a long moment and she almost hoped he’d turn her down. Destiny decided to slap her around a bit more, however, and Tann nodded sagely. “You make an excellent point Ambassador. Request granted.”

“ _Freaking yay._ ” Victoria thought sullenly. Out loud she said, “Thank you, Director Tann. Give me two weeks to return to Aya, we have a mission that needs our immediate attention. In the meantime, I’ll have Dr. T’Perro prep documents on how to interact with the angara and other basic things your envoys will need to assimilate.”

With that, they ended the call and Victoria felt her shoulders sag as all energy drained from her. What the hell had she been thinking? Sara turned to her and crossed her arms. Victoria glanced at her in question, but she merely began to tap her foot impatiently and quirk a brow at her.

Victoria lost her cool. “What? What do you want me to say?”

Sara breathed out harshly. “The truth! What happened?”

Victoria sighed unhappily and sat down on the couch nearest her and Sara sat next to her. Victoria sighed again, wondering where she should begin. “Well, I, got feelings. I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t help it. Things…went farther for me then Ev… well, the other party. He didn’t feel the same, and… I got burned.” Victoria finished and looked down at her clasped hands. She willed her emotions back into control while her sister processed her words.

Sara said slowly, “So, you’re telling me, that I need to hunt that fucker down and ruin our alliance? Because, I will cut a bitch so fast…” Sara halted as Victoria threw her a look.

“Sara,” Victoria said quietly, “This was my bad. I knew better then to get myself tangled up with… him.” She quirked her mouth in small smile of self-deprecation. “Guess I can’t turn everyone’s head all the time. Scott would be so disappointed in me, there goes my chance at being a peace bride…”

Sara grabbed her hand and clutched it tightly. She stroked her hand and said, “I’m sorry Tori. I know you liked him and I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

Victoria looked at their joined hands and smiled, a genuine one this time. “Well, it’ll be ok. Let’s just get to Kadara so I can lose myself in our work. I’m sure I can distract myself there.”

_**3 days later.** _

The road to Kadara was taking… a lot longer than anyone had anticipated. It seemed the trip to the planet was expected to take approximately four arbitrary days. This was literally a nightmare for everyone. There was a good reason the Nexus hadn’t heard from the exiles in so long. Not because they hadn’t looked, but because Kadara was literally at the ass-end of the cluster. When Jaal heard they were going to the planet, he threw an immediate fit.

“Kadara is the stinking pit which no angara return.” He had said this so snobbily, Victoria had nearly busted her ribs from laughing so hard. This only seemed to offend him further and he stormed off to go find Sara and have her reconsider. There was nothing to be done, Vehn Terev remained somewhere on the planet of exiles and so, the team kept chugging along to reach the godforsaken place.

Victoria herself tried to stay positive. She hung around Liam quite a bit, he was always good for a laugh and inane chatter. He didn’t know the specifics of what had happened on Aya and knew well enough not to ask. Victoria would be forever grateful for her friendship with Liam. Victoria was also finding herself in the cargo bay with Cora a good portion of the time. She was teaching the Ambassador some hand-to-hand combat moves. It didn’t seem necessary, but Cora knew she needed the distraction and she was very surely distracted from her thoughts as Cora put her through her paces. The woman was definitely the most in shape on the ship and for good reason. Vetra had taken to making sure she was eating well after every spar and would wait off to the side of their makeshift ring with water and encouraging words for the Ambassador. Drack would even sometimes stop by and give her pointers or krogan techniques. Peebee would just ogle the two women periodically as Lexi peeked into the cargo bay and made notes in her datapad every so often. It seemed everyone on the ship knew something had happened and were making extra sure to either keep Victoria distracted or laughing or busy with something or another.

The only person to actually try and talk to her about Aya was Jaal. The bastard. Victoria had finally found some peace in the galley when Jaal had found her. She had been holding a mug of coffee between both hands, lost in thought, when he had walked int the kitchen with a serious look on his face. He leaned against the counter and continued to consider Victoria as she stared back at him, almost in challenge for him to say something.

He finally broke the silence with a quiet, “So?”

“So, what?” Victoria asked acidly.

Jaal refused to back down. “Evfra, has been making it a point to bombard me with inconsequential questions about what we are doing. Questions he has never cared to ask before.”

Victoria sarcastically smiled at him, “Well, isn’t he thorough?”

“He is trying to gain answers about you without asking them directly. He cares about…”

Victoria voiced her anger quickly, “Stop right there. That is the kind of talk that got me into this mess in the first place. What you and… he talk about, is your business.”

Jaal shook his head sadly. “You two are making a big mistake.”

“I won’t hear any more of this, Jaal.” Victoria said angrily.

He sighed sadly, “Alright. I won’t speak on it anymore.” He crossed his arms in annoyance. Victoria looked at him a knowing face. Any second now….

Jaal gave up the pretense. “I cannot.” He huffed in irritation. “What are the use of emotions if one cannot express them!”

Victoria looked at her friend and remained quiet. She knew he was coming from a place of wanting to help, but she didn’t need it or, frankly, want it. “Jaal, I know you mean well, but all I want to do, is heal. We… he and I, well. He didn’t want it. Let me heal…”

Jaal nodded after a moment and sighed again. “I understand.” He made to walk out of the galley before half-turning around to speak to her. “Evfra. Say his name and it will help you heal. You cannot face the future when you fear the past.” With that, he walked out, leaving Victoria with an ugly pang in her heart.

“Evfra…” Victoria whispered to the air. His name tasted like regret and missed opportunities.  

_**1 day later.** _

The Pathfinder team had finally made it to the Govorkam system. According to Vetra, however the hell she knew, the planet was run by a gang called the Outcasts who had liberated Kadara Port from the kett. They were headed by Sloane Kelly, who used to be head of security on the Nexus. They had absolute power over the planet until a new gang called the Collective began to slowly strip that all away. They were led by an unknown person called the Charlatan.

Victoria quirked her brow at the title, “The Charlatan? Sounds like a bad remake of West Side Story.”

Sara snorted as they made their way to the helm, already dressed and ready to go. “With any luck, they’ll be too busy shooting at each other to notice us.” Sara remarked. Sara had decided to wear standard issued Initiative polo and pants and Victoria had opted for her comfy neutral colored dress. She wasn’t in the mood for anything over the top quite frankly.

They neared the planet as the two sisters made it to the Pathfinder’s console. A beeping at Suvi’s console made them turn to her as she checked to see who was contacting them. Suvi made a small noise and looked at the sisters nervously. Both women waited a moment for Suvi to speak up, but she just stared at them in fear.

“Well?” Sara asked impatiently. “Who is it?”

Suvi cleared her throat and glanced at Victoria. She coughed out, “Commander Evfra de Tershaav wants to be patched through….”

Sara turned to Victoria sharply, but Victoria took a calming breath before speaking, “Open a channel for him, Suvi.”

The comm in the helm crackled to life as Evfra’s gruff voice came through. “There’s been a development regarding the spy, Vehn Terev. Rendezvous at Kralla’s Song. Your contact’s code name is Shena.”

Hearing his voice again, in all its lovely low timbered glory, did funny things to Victoria’s heart as she remained quiet. Sara decided to speak and said, “Shena? Sure, got it. A little more deceit can’t hurt…”

There was a pause over the comms, as if Evfra wanted to say something, but nothing else came through and he ended the call. Sara glanced over at her sister who just smiled back at her. “So, we’re adding espionage to our repertoire? Do we have a theme song?”

Sara rolled her eyes playfully and nudged her with her shoulder. She gave Kallo the directive to land them at Kadara Port while the two sisters headed down to the cargo bay to disembark. Neither commented on hearing from the commander again and for that, Victoria was grateful. She was ready to lose herself in this mission. Vetra and Drack suddenly appeared and stood near them. Victoria looked at Sara who merely shrugged.

Kallo finally landed in the docking bay and the ramp descended for them. The group walked out and were immediately accosted by a strong scent of sulfur. It wasn’t revolting, but it was not pleasant. The only nice thing was that they didn’t need their helmets on the planet as it was safe for humans. They walked slowly into the port, trying not to notice all the exiles who began to take note of them and Victoria began to feel a flutter of nervousness steal over her. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea… at least Drack was beside her to protect or at least scare others away. They stopped on a balcony that overlooked the entirety of the port. Say what you want about exiles, but they definitely had a good thing going here. The streets of Kadara were bustling with activity and business seemed to be going well. The biggest draw back were the heavily armed Outcast gang members roaming through the crowds. Drack and Vetra left them soon to do a completely legitimate business deal and the two sisters were left to find Kralla’s Song, which frankly sounded like a strip bar.

The two strolled down the stairs that led into the main square and were immediately confronted with the sight of Outcasts beating up a man on the ground. Victoria felt anger clouding her mind as the group continuously kicked the fallen man as others stood around. One angaran man was clearly distraught but in no shape to take on the gang members. The crowd of onlookers appeared helpless to the situation and watched on in anguish. Victoria didn’t know what she could do either, but Sara took care of that for her and marched up to one of the Outcasts.

“What the hell are you doing to these people?” She angrily asked.

The female looked her over disdainfully before answering, “Nothing they weren’t expecting. Port’s got two rules, no guns and pay your protection fees. You got a problem with that, you can join these assholes.”

SAM piped up through their link, “It would be difficult to find the spy if you’re barred from the city.”

Sara’s jaw clenched at the injustice of it all but backed off. Victoria grabbed her arm and pulled her away and towards the bar they needed to go to. It was right in front of the mob scene and as the doors shut behind them they could hear the groans of pain coming from the man on the floor. The doors shut and all that could be heard was the loud pulsing music of the bar. Victoria shook her head in disgust. No wonder the angara hated this place, it was a nightmare here.

“Come on,” Sara said and led her to the bar. “Let’s hope this contact gets here soon. I want to get off this planet fast.”

They stood at the bar for a few minutes, Sara still stewing over the mess that was going on outside and Victoria was fidgeting nervously. Sara was staring moodily out the window while Victoria watched the door. Unfortunately, this left her wide open to receive many unwelcome invitations. Every few minutes some drunk would come over and make a quiet pass at her, which she tactfully would turn down. She wondered how long it would take before one would get either overly pissed off or get too handsy. As the asari bartender and a krogan got into a heated argument, a man walked into the bar and made a beeline for the sisters. Victoria tried not to give him too much attention, lest he take it the wrong way. The man was handsome, to be sure, but they were here for a reason. No tall, dark, and handsome stranger would deter her…

The man paused near Victoria and in a husky accented voice told her, “You look like your waiting for someone.” He tapped the bar and signaled for two drinks and the asari behind the bar hastily grabbed two bottles and plopped them down on the counter. The man grabbed them and fully turned toward Victoria and offered her one of the drinks. He quirked a brow at her and shot her a sly and confident smile. Damn it. How did this guy know confidence was one of her kinks?

Victoria smiled shyly at him and accepted the bottle. “I suppose I have time for one drink…” She opened the bottle and lightly clinked the mystery man’s bottle in a light cheer. Victoria took a light sip while the man before her took a long swig. She took the time to glance him over. Tanned skin, dark hair, and honey colored eyes? Delicious. The man was clearly Hispanic, something that intrigued Victoria to no end, she hadn’t seen any Latinos around in awhile and it was nice to be around someone from her own descent. He placed his bottle on the tabletop and threw her another charming smile and extended his hand to her in a handshake. “Shena.” He introduced himself. Victoria was thoroughly shocked, but he continued, “But you can call me Reyes. I hate code names.”

Victoria smiled warmly at him. “Victoria Ryder. A pleasure.”

They smiled at each other for a moment, hands still clasped before they were rudely interrupted. “We were expecting someone a bit more, angaran?” Sara rudely said. Victoria turned slowly to her sister and threw her a look of disgruntlement. Fucking Sara cockblocking her.

Reyes didn’t mind, and in fact laughed in clear amusement. “The Resistance pays me to supply information – among other things…” he squeezed Victoria’s hand and finally dropped it. Victoria felt her face trying to morph into a dopey smile as Reyes continued to regard her with clear fascination. He studied her features with rapt attention and she had never felt more exposed, but in a good way.

Again, Sara interrupted, “So you’re a smuggler?”

Victoria shoved an elbow roughly into her sister’s side, but Reyes just wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at them before gesturing for them to move away from the crowded bar. They walked over to an open window before Reyes spoke. “Your man, Vehn Terev, was arrested by Sloane Kelly, leader of the Outcasts. Word spread about what he did to Moshae Sjefa.” He shook his head, as if in disgust, but continued, “The people are calling for his execution. And Sloane, well, she’s a woman of the people.” He finished sarcastically.

Sara scoffed, “Dress it up however you want, she’s a criminal.”

Reyes chuckled. “You both work for the Initiative. Sloane was part of the uprising on the Nexus. I doubt she’ll give up Vehn easily.”

Victoria sighed, seeing the problem. “Well, we’re taking him. With or without her permission.”

Reyes smirked at her and bumped his shoulder with hers playfully. “We’re going to be friends, you and I.” Sara huffed in irritation and both Reyes and Victoria looked at her, Reyes in amusement and Victoria in annoyance. “Anyway, there might be another way to get to Vehn. You two work Sloane. I’ll talk to the Resistance.” He pushed away from the window and began to swagger away.

Sara made a noise and called out to him, “Reyes, how do I contact you if things go south?”

He turned around for a moment and merely raised a brow at Sara. He turned to Victoria and threw her an enticing wink before strolling out of the bar. Victoria sighed dreamily. Wow. What a man…

Sara cleared her throat loudly and crossed her arms at her sister. “And what the hell was that?” Victoria bit her lip and shrugged. Sara groaned in annoyance, “Just remember Tori. He’s an exile too. Come on, let’s get this over with.” Sara stomped out of the bar and Victoria followed slowly, after she paid the irritated asari of course.

They walked to Outcast Headquarters, where SAM said they would find Sloane. It was a rather large building that loomed over the other small buildings around it. Outside, two turians guarded the entrance and menacingly held two large guns. They glanced at them warily but let them pass without comment. Further in, two krogans guarded what they assumed was the throne room with even larger guns. They asked if they could see Sloane and the krogans grunted in affirmative before they were led inside. As they walked in, they noted the assortment of Outcast gang members who whispered to each other. The room was largely silent except a for woman sitting on a throne in the middle of the room who was reading off directives to her underlings about the kett. This must be Sloane Kelly.

She finished ordering her people about and looked at the sisters in disinterest. “What?” She asked in a bored voice.

Victoria was about to formally introduce themselves, but Sara cut in. “That’s quite the throne. Should I bow? Kiss your ring?”

Victoria mentally face-palmed as Sloane looked at Sara blandly. This was not going to end well…

“Very funny.” Sloane said, clearly unamused. “So, what brings the Pathfinder and her Ambassador to our humble port?”

Victoria stepped forward, “Vehn Terev. Does he sound familiar?”

Sloane slouched down in throne and considered Victoria before answering, “What’s he to you? And don’t lie to me.”

Sara opened her mouth to speak but Victoria cut her off. “We need him, so we can infiltrate a kett flagship. You’ve obviously no love for the kett. We’ll be doing you a favor.”

Sloane nodded but said, “Kadara is an angaran port. They want Vehn dead, and I want to keep them happy.”

Victoria crossed her arms, getting annoyed. “This is bigger than local politics. Vehn will answer for his misdeeds. That should suffice.”

Sloane smiled unpleasantly. “You don’t need Vehn. You need his intel. I’ll let you talk to him before I stick his head on a spike.”

“No deal.” Victoria said, shaking her head. “Vehn should be judged by the Resistance, not you.”

Sloane sneered at her. “I don’t have time for a morality debate.” She waved them off with a final, “Dismissed.”

Victoria sighed in irritation. She nodded civilly to Sloane before gesturing for Sara to follow her. Sara curtseyed in mock reverence and said, “Your Highness…” before being shoved to the door by one of the krogan guards. Victoria was already ahead and fuming at her sister, so they didn’t have time to grab ahold of her. Sara would piss off the wrong person one day, there was no doubt about that.

Vitoria growled in frustration, “Well, that could have gone better…”

Sara shrugged unrepentantly as SAM piped up, “Perhaps Mr. Vidal had more success?”

They walked to the entrance of the HQ quickly and Victoria was about to start deriding her sister when a sharp whistle caught their attention. Victoria turned to the noise and saw a little way off from them was Reyes. He was casually leaning against a stack of storage crates with his arms folded across his chest. He wasn’t overly muscular, but his biceps flexed enticingly as he unfolded his arms and crooked a finger at Victoria, beckoning her to him. She willingly went to him as Sara sullenly followed behind her.

He casually smirked at both sisters and teasingly asked, “Have a nice chat?”

“Yeah, think she really likes us…” Sara sarcastically replied as Reyes chuckled at their misfortune of tangling with Sloane.

“Don’t worry,” Reyes mockingly soothed, “I found a workaround.”

Victoria smiled at him and he threw another dashing wink at her. This man was actively trying to make her heart burst.

Sara cut in, disrupting their subtle (not so subtle) flirting. “Let me guess? It comes with strings attached?”

Reyes shifted himself to focus on Sara and Victoria pouted a little. She hadn’t realized how starved for attention she was until she had met Reyes. She tuned back into the conversation. “Not any new ones…” he said easily. “Remember, Evfra wants Vehn alive, so when you get inside, give him this.” He looked around quickly to make sure no one was watching them and passed Sara some strange device. He explained, “This will eat through whatever Sloane’s holding him in and it can’t be traced to us. A Resistance agent will be waiting to pick Vehn up.”

Victoria grimaced, “This is getting really complicated. He better be worth it…”

Reyes gave her an amused look, “Well, you’ll be the judge of that.” He nodded his head in the direction behind him and continued, “There’s a maintenance shaft around the corner. Sending you the access code to your omni-tool, Pathfinder.” He typed something in quickly and then finished with, “There. That will get you inside. You two should be able to handle the rest.”

Sara nodded and pleasantly said, “Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Literally, in Vehn’s case.” He quipped.

 Reyes nodded in seeming goodbye and was about to walk off into the crowd when Victoria decided to tease him a bit. “Before you go, there’s still the matter of the bill you left me with…”

Sara groaned and walked off in semi-serious disgust as Reyes smirked at her, “I’m usually the model gentleman.”

Victoria giggled and bit her lip playfully, “I don’t believe you.”

Reyes chuckled, “Because I’m lying.” They both laughed lightly at that. Victoria looked at him bashfully, a little embarrassed now and not sure where to take this. Reyes spared her and said softly, “When you’re done, come to Tartarus. First rounds on me. I promise.” He gave her a lingering smirk and walked away, melting into the crowd around them. Damn, that voice could melt butter, at the very least it could melt her into a puddle at his feet and she’d still say thank you. Victoria smiled to herself and then walked over to where her sister was impatiently waiting for her.

Sara merely glared at her before gesturing for them to get a move on. They walked to the side of HQ and found the maintenance shaft Reyes had mentioned. SAM quickly hacked it to open and both sisters climbed in. Victoria was incredibly grateful the shaft seemed relatively clean. She didn’t want to smell for her date… meeting with Reyes. SAM chirped up to use the code “Mr. Vidal” had given them and Sara punched in the access code after giving Victoria a strange look. A set of stairs descended from above them and after checking that there was no one in what appeared to be a stock room, they climbed up and looked around. It was a rather small room with nothing much in it, but on the other side of the room, there was a door. Only one heat signature registered within and they hoped it was be Vehn otherwise this would get ugly fast.

They opened the door and it quietly swished open. The room was definitely a holding cell and in it was a male angara. This had to be Vehn. They approached the cell cautiously and the angara looked up when he sensed their presence. He didn’t appear alarmed to see them and asked, “What do you want?”

Victoria snorted. Rude. Sara answered for her sister, “The Archon’s ship. Where is it?”

Vehn looked at them neutrally. “This a new interrogation tactic?” He asked skeptically, “Sloane’s getting lazy.”

Victoria glared at the obstinate man. “We’re not with Sloane. The Resistance sent us. Answer our questions and we can get you back to them.”

Vehn scoffed, “So, I’m trading one cell for another?”

Victoria rolled her eyes. Vehn didn’t seem the type to be a criminal mastermind, just incredibly stupid. “Vehn, you betrayed the Moshae,” Sara said in a slow voice, acting like she was talking to someone incredibly stupid. “You’re lucky Evfra wants you at all.”

Vehn sat for a few seconds, weighing his options. Finally, he spoke, “For all his faults, the old man isn’t an executioner.”

Victoria glared angrily at the angaran man. Old man?! Evfra could kick this kid’s ass any day.

“ _Keep it together!_ ” Sara said through the link. She spoke to Vehn, “The Archon’s ship.” She repeated forcefully. “Where is it?”

Vehn got up slowly from his makeshift bed and came closer to them. He spoke softly, “I never saw it… Got my orders from a kett transponder.” Victoria and Sara nearly lost it and were about to tell him to fuck off when he continued. “But, you could use its frequency to triangulate the Archon’s location.”

“Do you still have it?” Victoria roughly asked.

Vehn nodded, “I buried it before I was arrested. Should still be outside the city.”

Sara sighed, clearly realizing this would take some time to figure out before handing Vehn the device that Reyes had given her. “This is your way out of here. A Resistance contact will be waiting.”

Both sisters began to walk away when Vehn’s voice called out to them. “Don’t you want to know why I did it? Why I betrayed the Moshae?”

Victoria felt her jaw clench in anger. She knew what this man had done, but to hear him almost bragging? Her blood boiled. She turned to the cell and stalked over to Vehn. “Sure.” She said coldly. “Enlighten me.”

Vehn looked her straight in the eyes as he replied, “We’re losing the war against the kett. And still, Evfra puts my brothers and sisters in danger to protect a useless old woman.”

Victoria growled, “So what? You took things into your own hands?”

Sara tried to grab her arm and drag her away, but Victoria shook her off as Vehn continued. “I made the call he wouldn’t. The Archon only wanted the Moshae… I thought, if I gave her up…” he sighed regretfully. “I didn’t know what the kett were doing to my people.” Vehn’s head hung in shame.

Victoria almost felt bad for him as Sara softly said, “You resented the way the war is being fought. So, the Archon used that against you.”

He glanced up and said forcefully, “If Evfra weren’t such a fool and a better leader…”

Victoria cut him off and grabbed the front of his armor plate. She dragged him as close to her as she could as Sara tried to pry her hands off Vehn. The angara seemed startled at her strength, and so was Victoria, but she ignored that for a moment. All she felt was fury. “Evfra, is twice the man you will ever be.” She whispered dangerously. She pushed him away from her in disgust. How dare this man judge Evfra? He was giving up everything for his people and the cause and Victoria would not abide this insult.

Vehn looked at her, in a mixture of surprise and anger. “It doesn’t matter.” He said finally, “I’ll accept the consequences.” He sat back down on his cot in a show of self-pity and spoke no more.

Victoria threw him one last look of disgust before storming out. She stalked through the maintenance shaft and back out into the bustling crowds of Kadara. She paused to lean against a building and to try and take some calming breaths. She didn’t know why Vehn’s words had got to her. Maybe it was because he knew how hard Evfra worked to keep his people safe and the slander was such an insult. Or maybe it was because even after everything, she still held a large soft spot in her heart for the grumpy angaran leader. Sara finally caught up to her and looked at her sister with a sympathetic face.

“Want to talk about it?”

Victoria exhaled a deep breath and shook her head. “I will say this,” she said slowly, “despite everything, Evfra is a good man. He just, didn’t want me…”

Sara nodded, “Well, let’s forget about it. We need to go outside the city to get the transponder Vehn had buried.”

Victoria bit her lip as her sister turned and walked away from her. How was she going to explain that she would be going to see Reyes instead? Sure, her heart was broken, but that didn’t mean she was blind. And she had said she wanted Kadara to be a distraction…

Her thoughts were interrupted as the loud murmuring of a crowd drew her attention. They had just approached Kralla’s Song when they noticed a group of people gathered around a prone form on the ground. For a moment, Victoria thought it was more Outcasts beating up some innocent, but then she finally saw what it was. In the middle of the crowd, lay the body of an angaran male. Blood was spattered everywhere and everyone in the crowd seemed uneasy. She heard a whisper of this being the Charlatan striking once again. How could someone do this and get away with it in broad daylight?

SAM remarked to them privately that they could get more info if Sara scanned the body, which she did discreetly. As Sara studied the wounds carefully an Outcast guard came over and shook his head in annoyance. “Another body?” He asked to no one in particular. “Pfft, I don’t get paid enough for this shit…”

Victoria decided to do little detective work. “There’s been more than one murder?” She asked innocently.

The man looked at her and answered quickly, “Seven by my count. But that’s all I know.”

Victoria smiled politely at him as Sara led her away from the crime scene. Sara was shaking her head in anger. “This place is fucked up…” Victoria nodded in agreement. They walked in silence for a moment and made their way towards the docking bay.

SAM suddenly spoke, “Perhaps Mr. Vidal would have more information?”

Sara huffed, “What is it with you two and that guy?”

Victoria chuckled, “SAM has a crush I think.”

SAM replied, “An insider’s perspective would no doubt aid your cause.”

Victoria hopped onto this train of thought quickly. “SAM does have a point. You go outside the city and I’ll work Reyes.” She tried not to sound too enthusiastic but of course Sara saw right through her. She let it slide, however, and called Gil to prep the Nomad for her and commed Jaal and Cora to be ready to join her in fifteen minutes outside the city walls. Victoria began to walk towards the lift that would take her down into the slums, but before she had even taken a step, Sara had grabbed her hand and halted her movements.

Victoria quirked a brow at her as Sara thought of the words she wanted to say. She finally settled on a quiet, “Please be careful… Keep your comms on at least? You don’t have to have our link open.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and tugged her hand out of her sister’s grasp, “Ok mom. I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl.”

Sara nodded seriously and headed towards the Tempest to change into her armor. Victoria entered the lift and hit the button that would take her down. The descent didn’t take much time and soon she was in the slums, the smell of sulfur stronger here, but she ignored it to the best of her abilities. She wandered towards the stacks of storage crates that seemed to make up the slums and headed towards the loud thumping that seemed to be music. She assumed that the music was coming from the bar, Tartarus, that Reyes had mentioned. She walked through a door that two drunk angara had walked out of and was immediately swallowed into a dark and shady looking club. Along the walls, dancers gyrated wildly, while others watched with rapt attention. The floor seemed oddly sticky and Victoria really didn’t want to know why that was. She decided the best course of action was to ask the bartender if she knew Reyes. The bartender did and pointed her up a flight of stairs that would lead her to him. Victoria thanked him and quickly walked up the stairs, ignoring the catcalls that followed her as she moved. Why the hell had she come here again?

When she reached the top of the stairs an asari waitress was just walking out of a room and she vaguely heard the voice that made her melt. Oh yeah, that was why. She quickly checked her reflection in the mirrored wall next to her before approaching the door she assumed was Reyes’ private room. Fancy and if a bit strange but whatever. She opened the door and was greeted with loud trumpets. Reyes was sitting at the far end of the room and drinking what appeared to be whisky and hadn’t heard her come in just yet. The music in the room masked the whooshing of the door and Victoria took this moment to study Reyes a bit more. He was tilting the glass to his mouth and smiling to himself at the taste. It was rather cute. The song choice, however, made her roll her eyes. He would listen to ranchera music and this would be something he listened to. She made an obvious movement to alert him to her presence and he glanced over quickly but smiled when he saw that it was her. Victoria smiled back and walked slowly over to him as he brought up his omni-tool and lowered the volume.

“Ryder!” He greeted warmly, “I’m glad to see you.”

Victoria smiled and sat when he gestured for her to sit next to him. “Reyes, nice to see you so soon. But please, it’s Victoria. Or Tori, whichever is fine.”

Reyes smirked at her. “Alright, Victoria.” The way he rolled the r in her name made her shiver in delight. How long had it been since someone had pronounced her name correctly? He pressed on, not noticing, or not remarking on her rapture, “I’m sure you’ve heard about the murders in Kadara Port?”

Victoria nodded, “There’s a fresh body right outside Kralla’s. Some say it’s the Charlatan’s handiwork. What kind of monster does that?” Victoria did visibly shudder this time. She had killed sure, but that was self-defense. This was murder.

However, Reyes was shaking his head slowly in disagreement. “I don’t buy it. The Charlatan is discreet, careful. Whoever did this wanted the bodies found.”

“Making a statement?” Victoria asked.

“But to who?” Reyes asked in reply.

Victoria sighed in thoughtfulness. While this isn’t exactly what she had in mind when she came to visit Reyes, this certainly was intriguing. She spoke out loud, trying to get her thoughts in order. “Maybe no one… The body was stabbed repeatedly from what SAM had scanned. One stab wound would implicate cold and calculated intent. Multiple? And especially face wounds? That sounds like anger.”

Reyes hummed thoughtfully and looked at her appraisingly. “I agree. In fact, if I was a betting man, and I am, I would say it was the Roekaar.”

This startled Victoria. There was the name of that group again. She had completely forgotten to ask Jaal for more details while they had been on Voeld and the topic hadn’t come up again. “Roekaar?” She asked simply. “What would Roekaar be in Kadara Port?”

“It’s angaran built and, before Sloane, angaran run.” Reyes replied. “I think the Roekaar came here looking for recruits, and things got ugly.”

Victoria thought about this for a moment.  She supposed this theoretically could be the case. But why kill angara? “Forgive me, I’m still pretty fresh to Heleus, but why would angara kill other angara?”

Reyes shook his head, but this time in disgust. “Roekaar hate all aliens. They banded together after we arrived here. The angaran victims? I did some digging and found that all the deceased angara were public Milky Way sympathizers.”

The lightbulb went off in Victoria’s head. “Oh, so the victims were either from the Milky Way…”

“Or supported us. It’s the only pattern I could find.”

Victoria sighed and rolled her shoulders to loosen the tension in them. “I suppose an angaran port run by aliens would be a prime target for their cause.”

Reyes nodded and silently reached over and grasped her shoulder lightly. He gently tried to help her loosen the knots in her shoulder while he spoke, “The problem is I’ve got no proof and Evfra doesn’t want to antagonize the Roekaar.”

Victoria felt her shoulders tense further at the mention of Evfra’s name. Reyes stopped rubbing her shoulder and looked at her with a mixture of concern and what looked like understanding.

“Speaking of Evfra…” Reyes said slowly, “He asked about you. Not by name, but just probing to see who was working on getting Vehn out. Is there, something going on there?”

Victoria bit her lip and shook her head. Reyes didn’t look convinced but smiled at her nonetheless. He gently began rubbing her shoulder again. Victoria closed her eyes and tried not to think too much about what was going on. She sighed and spoke softly, “I suppose this is where I come in?”

Reyes laughed and gave her shoulder a final squeeze before letting go and sitting back. He crossed his arms and looked at her playfully. “I need that fancy AI of your sisters to scan for evidence that could implicate the Roekaar.” He sighed, and his face morphed into a serious look. “Victoria, people are scared. This is your opportunity to win friends in Kadara port.”

Victoria thought for a moment before she nodded resolutely. “Hm, I seem pretty integral to this plan.”

Reyes smiled devilishly, “SAM is integral. You’re a bonus.”

Victoria felt herself blush and she looked away from Reyes’ teasing face. “Well,” she said awkwardly, before shyly looking up at him through her lashes. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet…”

Reyes reached over and lifted her chin up with two of his gloved fingers and gently tilted her face up to meet his eyes. “I feel good about my chances.” He said quietly before letting her face go. “One of the crime scenes isn’t far. Give me a call if you get the chance to investigate.”

Victoria nodded and stood up shakily. “Well, I’ll talk to you later then?”

Reyes smiled and nodded. “Until next time, Victoria.”

In a haze, Victoria made it back to the lift and up to Kadara Port. She walked to the Tempest and went in, barely noticing her surroundings. She went to her room and collapsed on her bed. She sighed dreamily. Reyes Vidal.

**_1 day later._ **

Victoria had wanted to go out and immediately investigate the Roekaar lead, but Sara was not having it.

“I am taking my damn time with this. I do not investigate for Reyes Vidal!”

Victoria pouted and stomped her feet, but her sister would not budge. She supposed that was fine. This would give her a chance to rest and plan their time in Kadara. She decided that they would have enough time for the Roekaar mission and maybe get the vaults working on Kadara. It turned out that while Sara was hunting for the kett transponder, the damn planet was going to crap because of faulty vaults. Go figure. They would probably need to stretch out the vaults to two days and then would head out on the fourth day to make it back to Aya in their two week time limit. Victoria hated the thought of leaving, but maybe she could swing back sometime.

The next day finally dawned and Victoria had hopped into her armor faster than she ever had before. Sara grumbled and muttered under her breath, but she too dressed quickly and gathered Drack and Vetra to them. They headed out of the docking bay and out past the city walls. Victoria practically bounced to the Nomad while the other three followed at a far more sedated pace. Drack and Vetra chuckled at her youthful enthusiasm while Sara stomped to the driver’s side. Victoria swung into the Nomad and hummed absentmindedly to herself. Sara got in to her vehicle and quickly peeled out and headed towards the coordinates her sister had given her. Vetra and Drack snickered like children in the backseat, clearly enjoying Sara’s annoyance. It wasn’t that Victoria didn’t see her sister was annoyed, it was mostly that she didn’t understand why she was. She mentally shrugged. At least Sara was helping her…

They finally were nearing the navpoint, which Victoria was happy about because the tension could literally be cut with a knife. As the Nomad powered up the steep hill SAM spoke up.

“Pathfinder,” SAM said, “This is the murder scene Mr. Vidal asked the Ambassador to investigate.”

Sara groaned as Victoria chuckled, “Don’t worry SAM. We’re investigating your crush’s lead.”

They stopped in front of a rundown building that appeared to be the home of one the victim’s. As they approached the door Victoria accessed her omni-tool and dialed Reyes. It rung for a few moments before Reyes’ husky voice filled her comms.

She took a calming breath before replying, “Reyes? I’m at the crime scene.”

Reyes answered, “Great. I’ve got intel on our dead guy. Krogan male. Went by the name of Zear.” He paused to take a breath, “His front plate was pried off before he was shot to death.”

Victoria grimaced in disgust. “They wanted him to suffer…”

Drack grunted, “Not one of mine.” And shrugged.  Guess there was no such thing as krogan loyalty.

Reyes continued, “Do your scanning thing. Look for anything that might lead us to the killer.”

Sara made a noise of discontent and folded her arms across her chest. Victoria gave her a pleading look and mouthed, “Come on!”

Sara glared at her and said through the link, “ _Why can’t he do this on his own? He’s a capable guy…_ ”

Victoria sighed and replied, “ _Sara, please! This isn’t just about doing him a favor. This is about doing the right thing!_ ”

Sara stomped her foot, knowing her sister was right and began scanning around the living quarters of the victim. Vetra and Drack remained quiet as they watched the sister's silent interaction/argument. Immediately at the front door, they found distinctly angaran footprints, at least three different sets. They scanned the body of the krogan (“Why the hell did they just leave the body?”) and found angaran blood mixed with the krogan’s. They retraced their steps back outside and found one of the murder weapons, a knife. On the handle, a Shelesh inscription was inlaid that read, “A home filled with strangers becomes a prison”.

Sara hummed thoughtfully, “That does sound pretty Roekaar.”

SAM concurred, “This inscription along with the DNA and footprints supports the theory proposed by Mr. Vidal, Pathfinder.”

Sara got a sulky look on her face, “Yeah yeah, SAM,” she muttered, “don’t rub it in that your boyfriend was right…”

Reyes snickered, having heard the entire exchange, “Let’s go pay our local Roekaar a visit. What do you say, Pathfinder?”

Sara looked at Vetra and Drack for confirmation. Vetra shrugged nonchalantly while Drack appeared to be violently happy he was about to get something to shoot at. She didn’t even look at her sister for her opinion, she already knew where she stood.

Sara sighed and dubiously asked, “You know where they are?”

There was a scoff on the other end. “I wasn’t sitting on my ass the whole time. I’m looking at the place now.” Reyes said in an insulted voice.

Victoria laughed and replied, “Didn’t think you were the hands on type.”

Reyes chuckled softly, “Oh Ambassador, if you only knew…”

Victoria felt her face flame as Drack and Vetra laughed at her expense. Even Sara looked faintly amused at how easily Victoria fell into that one.

She tried to clear her throat to cover her embarrassment, “Send me the coordinates. The murders stop today.”

They bid each other a quick goodbye as the team hopped into the Nomad. Sara took off and they sped through the Kadara scenery. It wasn’t an ugly planet, but there was a strange haziness that seemed to linger in the air regardless if they were cruising along the planet’s natural paths or flying over high hilltops. It seemed the place was also a haven for dinosaur-like creatures and…

“Fiend!” Victoria screeched as they turned a corner and nearly smacked right into a giant fiend. It made a swipe at them as Sara quickly zoomed around it. Victoria sank into her seat, willing her nerves to come down.

Drack spoke up, “Kid, you think you can handle it out here?”

Victoria glanced back at him and asked, “You judging me over fiends, Drack?”

Drack chuckled dryly, “No. I’m judging you because you don’t seem the type to be able to hack it out here.”

Victoria gaped at Drack in an insulted manner. “First of all. I admit, I’m not professional soldier or whatever. But, I’ve been doing just fine. I’m a little delicate sure, but I can handle my shit so back off my dick!” That last part was nearly shouted but it seemed to appease the old man, for he just nodded simply and went back to watching the passing scenery.

It wasn’t much longer until they reached the navpoints Reyes had sent them. As soon as Sara parked, they all got out of the Nomad with their guns drawn. The hideout seemed to be within the mountain and they all looked around to see where Reyes was.

“Perhaps Mr. Vidal is inside?” SAM inquired.

Victoria snorted. SAM really did have it in for Reyes. Who could blame the AI, though? They walked through the small entrance and paused. No sign of the smuggler.

Victoria sighed impatiently, “Reyes should be here…”

Vetra walked up next to Victoria and asked teasingly, “So is there something going on? You and Reyes?”

Sara turned to look at her sister and sarcastically parroted, “Yeah, is there something going on…?”

Victoria had put her gun down to argue back when suddenly the door in front of them opened and three armed angara came up to them. Shit. The squad put their hands up in surrender, realizing they had been stupidly caught off guard.

“Were we too loud?” Sara asked innocently.

“Shut up.” of the Roekaar said, “Farrah will deal with you.”

The angara motioned them forward and led them through the hideout. There were many angara in here, at least 10 by Victoria’s count, milling about. They watched with hatred in their eyes as the Pathfinder team was led to the middle of the cave. An angry angaran woman, who they assumed was Farrah, approached them. Victoria tried to stay brave. She hoped Reyes was ok, maybe that was why they hadn’t seen him. Maybe he had been caught…

She glared at them and said, “I don’t need to tell you what happens next.”

Sara stepped forward, “You’re going to try to kill me and my friends. I’ve got a few questions first.”

Farrah shook her head, “No.” She pulled a knife, an exact replica of the one they had found earlier. “You’ll bleed, just like the others.”

Victoria looked at her in disgust. “So, it’s true…” she said quietly, “You murdered innocent people!”

“Invaders and sympathizers are not innocent. I will protect my people.” Farrah said resolutely.

“Don’t let your hate poison you. We can coexist…” Victoria tried to reason.

Farrah scoffed, “Like here on Kadara?” She asked incredulously. “Sloane lies to my people and uses them for power.”

Victoria tried to argue back. “I’m not Sloane.”

The angaran woman just looked at her coldly and said, “You are all the same…”. She began to move towards Victoria and raised the knife, as if to strike, but it was suddenly shot from her hand. She cried out in shock as a voice called out from behind them.

“Not so fast!” It was Reyes. He rushed down the stairs, gun drawn, and stood right next to Victoria with his gun drawn on Farrah.

Victoria tried not to swoon and quipped, “You’re late.”

He threw a quick smirk at her, “I’ve got a good reason. You’ll see in three, two, one…”

As Reyes had been counting down, Farrah was panickily trying to bring her reinforcements to her. But as Reyes counted to one, an explosion sounded and multiple Roekaar, including Farrah, were flung into the air. They flew and were scattered across the hideout floor as a small ball of flames consumed those closest to the explosion area.

He winked at the Ambassador and asked cheekily, “Still mad?”

There was no time to reply as the rest of the squad scrambled to get one the dropped Roekaar weapons as the other angara in the cave descended on them. Victoria had no chance to grab a weapon as Farrah lunged at her from behind a crate she had been flung into from the explosion. The woman was spitting in fury as she threw punch after punch at Victoria pushing her further and further away from her companions. Though for her part, Victoria was doing well in defending herself. She blocked a right hook and jabbed right at Farrah’s face. The woman stumbled from the assault but recovered and kicked right at Victoria’s middle. She went flying back from the force of the impact and landed heavily on her back. She was out for only a second but that was all it took for the angaran leader to find her knife. As Victoria tried to pick herself up, Farrah was already lunging at her. Victoria was just bringing her arms up to shield herself when a gunshot rang out from behind and Farrah fell forward. The woman clutched at her abdomen, trying to clutch at her gaping wound but the damage was done. She fell to the ground, breathing heavily for a few seconds before she lay still. Victoria fully sat up and tried to lift herself onto her shaking legs, but she was helped up by a pair of strong warm arms.

“There, that’s it. I’ve got you Victoria.” Reyes whispered intimately into Victoria’s ear. Victoria felt her legs give out, a mixture of lack of oxygen from the kick to her stomach and from being so near Reyes. He didn’t mind, however, and quickly caught the young woman. He gently put an arm under her knees and lifted her up and cradled her to his chest.

Victoria laid her head on Reyes’ chest and said quietly, “You were right. Farrah admitted to killing those people. How could she do such a thing to innocent people?” Victoria sighed warily.

Reyes carefully shifted her in his arms and replied gently, “The universe is filled with awful people.” He brought her closer to him and continued, “But now, they’re dead.” He chuckled softly, “Don’t you just love happy endings?”

Victoria laughed quietly at his dark humor and they shared a warm smile as he let her rest against him as they walked to the front of the hideout. Sara and the other two were already waiting for them and when she saw the pair, she merely quirked a brow at Reyes.  He ignored her in favor of turning his attention back to the woman in his arms. “Feel strong enough to go back down on your own, Ambassador?” Victoria nodded jerkily and was placed carefully back on the ground. Finally, Reyes turned to her sister and jokingly said, “The streets of Kadara are safe again. You did good Ryder.”

Sara chuckled, seeming to have warmer feeling towards the smuggler now. “Always fun working with you Reyes. You keep us on our toes.” Sara nodded to him and smiled in goodbye. She motioned for Vetra and Drack to follow her to give her sister a moment alone. Sometimes Sara really was the best sister.

Victoria smiled shyly at Reyes when they were alone. “We make a good team…”

He grinned at her playfully, “Careful, I’ll start thinking you like me.” He stood next to her and looked down at her, as if waiting for her to turn him down. Maybe he thought she just liked to flirt for fun? She decided it was now or never to make her interest known.

She looked up at him and asked him curiously, “Would that be so bad?”

He seemed slightly taken aback by her response as if he had fully expected her to not be seriously into him. He replied lightly, “That, depends…” he trailed off. Victoria waited for him to continue, but he looked away after a moment. He shook his head slightly to himself and looked back at her with his trademark smirk. “Don’t be a stranger, Ambassador.” He reached up to her cheek and gave her an affectionate pinch. Victoria smiled and looked him right in the eyes. There was an emotion in them that she couldn’t place, but he walked away quickly, not giving her the chance to identify it. As he walked out, he passed Sara who was walking back in, and gave her a mock two-fingered salute and left the hideout.

Sara walked up to her sister who stared back at her with a faraway lexpression. Sara rolled her eyes at Victoria and pushed her lightly on the shoulder. “Come on, Juliet. Romeo’s left the building.”

Victoria glared playfully at her sister but followed her back into the Nomad. They made their way back to Kadara Port, everyone in the Nomad chatting amongst themselves. Victoria was quiet as they drove, her mind elsewhere. Victoria was lost in a daydream about strong arms wrapped around her and warm breath on her neck.

Victoria had a slight inkling though, that the mystery man in her daydream might not be Reyes…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the song Reyes was listening to... well. Just listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZBHetgXKb4  
> If that isn't his damn theme song... here are the lyrics if you don't feel like listening to the song. https://lyricstranslate.com/en/el-rey-kng.html :both versions of the translation are good, but the first one is a simpler one that works well!
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/BgoAHocH8B9/?taken-by=suminzz -dress


	20. Adventure is Out There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria decides to have her own adventure. Who said you couldn't have your teenage rebellion in your early twenties?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEEK! This is a long one. Heyyyy... Enjoy!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

The Pathfinder team left Kadara after the fifth day on the planet. Sara had managed to fix the vaults on the planet while navigating through intense firefights between the Outcasts and the Collective. They really were remarkably busy shooting at each other but did spare some ammo to target the squad. Victoria had gone on one trip to fix a monolith and had decided to not go to the other two. While they had been out they had gone to a far-flung part of the planet and discovered a Collective hideout though torture chamber may have been a better word. They had discovered the body of a man who had been tortured and killed by the Collective trying to find a missing operative. After the two gang members disposed of the man, they had contacted their boss, the Charlatan, and gone to a base hidden somewhere in the Draullir area. The squad decided to do some investigating into the matter. Victoria was insanely curious to uncover the identity of the enigmatic leader of the Collective. She had been pestering Reyes for answers, but the man didn’t seem to know anything about the identity of the person.

He would shrug and say, “As long as they keep paying me for doing some jobs, I don’t really care who they are.”

Victoria rolled her eyes at that and they would keep discussing whatever it was they had been talking about before. That was how they had spent the few days Victoria managed to spend with him, just talking about inconsequential things for a few hours before Sara was breathing down her neck for her to come back to the ship. Now, here they were, speeding across the damned planet, trying to find a secret base. Victoria remembered asking if Reyes knew the location.

“¿Mi chiquita muñeca, por qué querrías ir allí?” Reyes simply asked.

Victoria looked at him playfully and responded, “Mi Rey, porque quiero y porque puedo…”

Reyes laughed at her cheekiness and told her the “swanky” hideout was definitely in Draullir, but he had never been to it personally, just delivered goods near the area.

Victoria was snapped out of her remembrance to the sharp braking of the Nomad. Victoria glared at her sister balefully but was met with an angelic smile. They had reached the hideout which was located far within a cave guarded by fiends and rylkor. After disposing of the numerous creatures lurking about, they found a set of doors and when they opened them two guards nearly shot them on sight before one of them recognized them as the Pathfinder team.

“Stand down,” the female Collective guard said, “They’re allies.” The other guard, a salarian, lowered their weapon as the asari shook their hands in greeting. “Welcome, Pathfinder. Ambassador.”

Victoria looked at the two gang members in shock. “Wait, you aren’t shooting at us? Think you could tell the others to stand down too?”

The asari smiled, “The memo probably hasn’t gotten to the lower level members yet. But my orders are clear, you all are not to be harmed.” The asari smirked, “If I didn’t know any better… I’d say the boss has a soft spot for you, Ambassador.” She stopped smirking and then turned serious, “But, that’s none of my business.”

They had walked away after that, leaving Victoria feeling very off-kilter. The Charlatan knew her? Being indebted to such an enigmatic person left her feeling uneasy and after they had looked around the base (and Victoria had ordered the guards there to stop beating up their prisoners) she decided to stay either on the ship, in Kadara Port, or with Reyes. She let Sara run around Kadara with her other squad mates. Except Jaal. Jaal seemed content to stay by her side while she roamed the port’s markets, muttering under his breath about the filth, or on the ship when she spent time with Reyes. He always gave her the ugliest side-eye when she slunk off to the slums or crept back onto the ship. He did not approve of Reyes one bit and let her know every chance he could get.

“Cora says you like, bad boys. I find the thought… interesting.”

Victoria would sniff disdainfully and stalk away from him. She already had her sister making comments, she didn’t need Jaal to add onto it. Though Sara had warmed to the smuggler since their first meeting, she didn’t approve at all of their flirtations and was trying to work through Kadara as fast as she could. Unfortunately, Sara soon accomplished her goal and fixed the vault on Kadara. While they wouldn’t be able to set up a base yet, the people who lived here would at least be living a bit more comfortably.

Now, they were flying off from Kadara Port and headed back to Aya. Victoria was pouting in the conference room and staring out the window, watching as the planet got smaller and smaller as they zoomed away. Victoria had wanted to say goodbye to Reyes in person, but when she had gone to his room in Tartarus he was nowhere to be found. All that was there was a note that said:

Victoria,

I apologize for not seeing you off. A job has

called me away before I could say goodbye.

Know I will be thinking of you fondly and hope

to see you soon. Write to me, Chiquita.

                                         Tu Rey

Victoria was still clutching the note to her. She cared for Reyes. She knew she liked him, perhaps even more than a friend. They had plenty in common, they both enjoyed debating with the other, always respectfully and with a listening ear. Reyes was a good friend and had even managed to get her some comforts for her for the ship. Overall, Reyes was a good guy. But… no matter how much she liked Reyes, her heart still skipped a beat every time she thought of Evfra. She had no idea why though. They had spent almost no time together, they didn’t know each other one bit. Yet, Victoria spent her nights dreaming of strong blue arms and piercing blue eyes.

Victoria sighed warily. Her time on Aya was going to be a nightmare.

_**3 month later.** _

In her makeshift office on Aya, Victoria sat at her desk with her head in her hands. Ever since she had been dropped off on Aya she had been working constantly. The embassy for the Nexus was set up in Paaran’s offices and Victoria was haggling with both the Milky Way and angaran parties about how much space they could take up and how many people would be allowed on Aya. So much bullshit that Victoria hadn’t realized would come up, came up. This was completely unfamiliar territory and Victoria prayed she wouldn’t screw it up.

The Moshae had proved invaluable to the endeavor, however, and helped her many times. The woman had a knack for helping her find middle ground and soon a small group of Milky Way settlers found themselves on the beautiful planet. The first few days had been incredibly difficult for everyone. Angaran men and women would either cower away from the newcomers or would be openly hostile. After two weeks, things seemed to be settling down and all the races seemed to be finding ways to cope with the others. Now, three months later, Victoria had even seen some of her people mingling with the angara at the tavetaan. She was completely elated by the turn of events. Perhaps they weren’t the best of friends, but this was a good start.

Evfra, however, was being as quarrelsome as ever. When Victoria would find herself at Resistance HQ for some reason or another, the man would always seem to make his way to her and find some business to attend to around her. Victoria figured the first few times were a coincidence, but after the fifteenth time, she knew he was watching her. Victoria felt a stabbing pain in her heart when she came to the realization. After all this time, after their little exchanges, and he still couldn‘t trust her. She tried to keep things friendly however. She would just smile at him whenever their eyes met and try not to let his scowl deflate her.

Victoria was thinking about her progress from the last few months when she got an email notification on her console. She looked over and saw it was from Sara. She felt herself smile as she scanned through her sister’s email. It looked like she had just found the asari ark and was making her way back to the Nexus with the it in tow. Victoria felt a surge of pride shoot through her. Sara had not only just done this, she had found the turian ark, fixed Havarl’s vault, and fixed Voeld’s vault and made a settlement on the planet, all within a month. Sara was a force to be reckoned with and even Evfra had begrudgingly congratulated Victoria on her sister’s success. Victoria closed her eyes as she remembered the conversation.

It had only been five weeks since Victoria had left the Tempest and now she was flying to Voeld for a victory party being held at the new settlement, Taerve Uni, Sara had established. Not only was this a good thing for the Milky Way settlers, but Sara had also cleared the large kett base that controlled the kett operations on Voeld. This was a tremendous success for the angara and so they were going to take a sort of victory lap. Besides her and Evfra, Moshae Sjefa was also accompanying them. The shuttle they were taking was very modest in size with only three rooms for the passengers. Victoria did her best to stay out of Evfra’s way as much as possible considering the size of the ship but Evfra seemed to be up every time she ventured out of her room. He wouldn’t speak to her very often, mostly he just stared at her or walk right past her. Victoria tried not to mind it. When they were nearing Voeld, Victoria changed into a long gray dress and grabbed her vintage faux fur coat, thankful she had nabbed it when she left the Tempest. Sara had told her not too worry about wearing armor as the kett were quiet after their incredible losing steak on the planet so Victoria happily donned on her most fabulous winter apparel. She had walked out of her room and ran right into Evfra. She had been adjusting her coat onto herself and hadn’t realized the man was standing right outside her door until she collided right into his chest. She looked up, startled, and found herself staring right into beautiful icy blue eyes as arms steadied her. Evfra was staring at her passively as Victoria began to profusely apologize for invading his personal space. He looked like he was about to say something when a light cough caused them both to look to the side. The Moshae was smiling warmly at the sight of them.

“We’ll be descending in a moment. But please, don’t let me interrupt.” She had said teasingly and walked away.

Evfra dropped his arms from where he had still been holding her and had walked after the Moshae leaving Victoria entirely baffled about the entire situation. They soon landed on Voeld at Taerve Uni and Victoria spotted Sara and the rest of the team watching her ship descend. They couldn’t land completely as the shuttle pads for visitors were still being built so they hovered a few feet from the ground unable to land for fear the shuttle would get stuck in the thick snow. The Moshae jumped out first, far nimbler than anyone gave her credit and Evfra followed suit. Victoria looked down at the ground and realized she would either fall flat on her face or risk ripping her clothes if she tried to jump out. She motioned for Jaal to come to her to help her down but before her friend could even come close to the shuttle Evfra was reaching out for her with both arms. She hesitantly reached for his forearms, but he moved past her outstretched arms and took a, surprisingly gentle, hold of her waist. It felt like his hands nearly encompassed her waist as he lifted her from the shuttle as Victoria tried her best to hide her flush. He held her like she weighed nothing, and she was seriously flustered at his show of strength. Evfra put her down gently and after she righted herself and thanked him quietly, he briskly walked away. Sara and Jaal came up to her with matching expressions of smugness but Victoria blew them off in favor of giving them quick hugs. This was no time to analyze Evfra’s intentions and they had to get this show on the road. She spent the majority of the time at the settlement checking on supplies and making sure the angara that Evfra had placed here would integrate well with the settlers here and vice versa. She even received a small shipment from Kadara, compliments of Reyes, for the settlement that Victoria gladly divided amongst those that would now live here. She had sent Reyes a long email thanking him for his kindness and they had sent each other some playful banter for a few minutes before Sara elbowed her side. Victoria glared at her sister but stopped when she jerked her head forward. Victoria followed her sister’s line of sight and found Evfra studying her with extreme watchfulness before staking away angrily. Jaal said he was jealous but Victoria doubted it, she knew how the man felt about her.

No other incidents happened and after Evfra had inspected the settlement and the Resistance base on Voeld and Victoria had made the necessary rounds, they were taking off back to Aya after two nights. Evfra avoided her at all costs and remained in his room for nearly the entirety of the flight back. Victoria and the Moshae spent plenty of time together for the duration of their flight so she was able to not think too much on the ill-tempered man. When they made it back to Aya’s port, as they were all walking off the docks, Evfra had come to walk beside her. Victoria didn’t think too much about it until he had turned his head to her to speak.

“The Pathfinder… is doing decent work.” He had said softly and somewhat begrudgingly.

Victoria had smiled softly at his attempt to be kind and replied, “Thank you Evfra. My sister really cares about both our people. I hope you recognize that.”

He hummed quietly. “Keep this up and I’ll have to believe your good intentions.”

Victoria laughed at his quip and she noted his look of surprise. Perhaps he had thought she would take it the wrong way, or he had meant it to come off rude and was startled at her taking it as a joke. Either way, he walked off hurriedly after that and returned to his hideout at HQ.

Now, here was Victoria, reliving the past month and wondering what would come next. There was a slight lull in her work now that the embassy was starting to walk on its own two feet. She was interrupted from her thoughts when her stomach gave a light growl. Oh yeah, food was a thing. She got up and left her office in the governor’s building and decided to go hunting for some nourishment. She briefly thought she might go see what the tavetaan had to offer but decided against it. Nutrient paste was ok, but a month’s worth of the stuff? She wandered around and was coming upon HQ when an angaran food vendor came ambling towards her with a cart of food. She looked at his wares carefully, wondering if it was safe for human consumption, which the vendor assured her it was, and took one of the cartons. She was about to pay when he told her it was a better deal to buy two as he was running a sale. She nearly told him that one was enough before an idea came to her. She distantly remembered overhearing two Resistance soldiers commenting on how Evfra never seemed to find the time to eat and would became even more irate as the day passed. She took another carton of food and paid the angara before she could overanalyze her motivations. She passed it off as doing her good deed for the day.

She walked into HQ and nodded at the few angaran acquaintances she had that worked here. One angara, Jarryn Sjek, who she had helped resolve a sticky situation with a pesky salarian, waved at her and approached her with a smile. She beamed back at him as he came to stand before.

“Ambassador,” Jarryn greeted her, “What brings you to headquarters today? I haven’t threatened anyone this time.”

Victoria chuckled, “Very funny, funny guy. No, I’m looking for the big man. He in a bad mood today?”

Jarryn glanced over his shoulder towards Evfra’s office. He turned back to her and shrugged. “Haven’t seen anyone running out of there crying today. Take that how you will.”

“Yeah…” Victoria sighed, remembering when she had left that office crying. “Well, wish me luck Jarryn!”

As she walked past him and headed for the door she heard him faintly say, “You’ll need it, Ambassador…”

She walked through the doors and spotted Evfra in the middle of the room studying his subordinates with a quiet authoritative air. Victoria tried her best to quell the butterflies in her stomach and walked over to the grumpy angara with a soft smile. He glanced over at her and quirked a brow at her approach.

“Hey there big guy,” Victoria said, “I have this extra lunch I thought you might like.”

Evfra looked down at her without a word and now Victoria was actively trying not to squirm under his inscrutable gaze. Finally, he spoke. “If you were under the impression that I cannot afford my own meals, you are mistaken.”

Victoria laughed in relief. “Not at all. A man was selling these and had a sale, so I bought another. Figured you hadn’t eaten and decided to see if you wanted it.” She decided to try and tease him. “Besides, rumor has it you bite the heads off your people the longer you go without food.”

Evfra’s wintry eyes swept the room with a piercing look at the soldiers around them who were not so subtly eavesdropping on their conversation. They all began to move around the room in a flurry of movement to get back to work quickly under their leader’s gaze. His eyes returned to Victoria’s face who tried to smile winningly at him and offered the container of food to him. He decided to take pity on her and took the food from her without further comment. He moved to his desk and set the container down, so he could inspect its contents. Inside was some cut up paripo, elmohk, and quilloa fruit, a piece of Milky Way safe bread, and some protein that Victoria’s translator couldn’t pick up. Evfra seemed satisfied with the contents and looked back up to the ambassador who was still standing in the middle of the room, unsure if she should go or eat with the man. Evfra spared her and gestured with his head for her to come join him at his desk, which she hurriedly did. She approached the desk when one of the soldiers produced a chair for her to sit in which she gratefully took. She put her own container in front of her and was about to dig in when she noticed Evfra was still standing.

“You aren’t going to sit down with me?” She asked curiously. She wasn’t offended, simply curious.

Evfra had picked up a datapad and had been carefully picking up a piece of fruit when she had questioned him. He shook his head and responded, “I don’t sit when I eat.”

Victoria scoffed, “Evfra do you ever relax?”

He glared half-heartedly at her before returning his attention to the datapad in his hand. Victoria smiled to herself and ate her lunch quietly. This was how they continued for a week. Victoria would find herself walking to HQ around lunch, buy two containers of food, and then join Evfra for lunch. He didn’t comment again on her actions, merely accepted her offering and would continue doing work while he ate. Victoria would bring her own work and sit in the chair that began to appear at his desk by the third day of her visits.  Sometimes if she walked in and Evfra was busy at his desk, either yelling at his soldiers or on a conference call, she would roam around the backwalls and consult with the soldiers if they were coming upon a dilemma out on the field. She was happy to help in anyway and on these occasions, after she was done helping, she would find Evfra watching her with an unreadable look on his face. Still, he never really spoke to her, but Victoria was learning to accept that the man was no chatter box but that his actions spoke louder than his words. It was a happy week for Victoria and she hoped Evfra appreciated it too.

_**1 week later.** _

Evfra was standing in his office browsing through his console and going through emails from various angaran bases. He had just received a report about the human Pathfinder when he suddenly remembered the time. He looked up from his console and glanced towards his door then back down to check the time. Victoria was usually timely when she brought their lunch. Evfra sighed to himself and willed down a feeling he didn’t care to examine that might have resembled something like disappointment. He decided to keep working and thought that the human would be along shortly like a well-trained adhi. After another 30 minutes of waiting, Evfra huffed in annoyance and tossed his datapad down with much more force than anyone had anticipated. The soldiers in the office looked around nervously and gave the Resistance leader a width berth as he began to pace around his desk. He didn’t know why he was getting so bent out of shape. He rationalized that if someone introduced something new to his schedule it was only polite that they stick to the routine.

After a few moments of pacing he made up his mind and stormed out of his office. The other angara in HQ had merely to take one look at Evfra’s thunderous face before they were practically leaping out of his way. He made his way through the busy angaran streets not noticing anything around him. He made it to the Paaran’s office without interruption and ignored Ohmdaal who was sputtering at Evfra’s sudden entrance and disregard of him and walked to the door where he knew Victoria’s office was. He took a quick pause to try and reign his emotions in before accessing the door quietly. He noted that there was no sound from within and the lights were rather dim. Perhaps the human was out?

But no, that thought was quickly dashed when he saw Victoria laying face down on her desk, an assortment of datapads and physical papers scattered about her. He nearly panicked when he noticed the odd angle her neck was positioned in but as he stepped further into the room, the woman shifted slightly and gave a quiet breathy sigh in her sleep. Evfra stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure if he should awaken the human or just walk away. He opted for the latter and reclosed the door just as quietly. Evfra knew Victoria had just straightened out the issue with the Vessal, but he hadn’t realized how hard she had been working. She never complained about her work, only sent him dazzling smiles and gave him soft words. He made his way out of Paaran’s offices and walked slowly down the steps and back out into the markets of Aya. He couldn’t get Victoria’s soft sigh out of his mind; the breathiness her voice could make nor could he shake the image of her long dark hair cascading around her. He distantly wondered if it was as soft as it looked. He was brought out of his thoughts when he nearly ran over a food vendor’s cart. The man apologized abundantly to the Resistance leader but Evfra shook him off. He glanced at the containers and belatedly realized this was the same man Victoria got their food from. He quietly bought two containers from the man and made his way back to the governor’s office. Ohmdaal didn’t even question Evfra as he walked back to Victoria’s office. Evfra re-accessed the door and silently made his way to Victoria’s desk where the woman was still sleeping peacefully. He laid a container of food at the edge of the desk and paused to gaze at the young woman before him. She didn’t stir but a side of her face peeked out from the curtain of her hair. Her long sooty lashes graced her high cheekbones and a slight flush adorned the softness of her cheeks. Evfra had a strange urge to brush the hair from her face and trace her delicate cheek, but he shook himself of the impulse and brusquely left back to his own office. When he reached his desk he desperately tried to banish all thoughts of the strange human that rested not even 5 minutes away from him.

He desperately wished he had touched her hair.

**_4 days later._ **

Victoria was taking lunch in Evfra’s office as per usual. She hadn’t commented on the box of food she had found on her desk a few days ago and Evfra hadn’t brought it up either. They both continued on as if nothing had happened, which suited Victoria fine. She was happy to live in blissful ignorance if only to be able to keep sharing these moments with her favorite cranky angara. Sara had made a brief pitstop on Aya to drop Jaal off to do some Resistance things and would be returning shorty to pick up Jaal for a big mission that she was planning. Her sister would be going over the details on her return and now all she had to do was wait. Jaal was visiting the Moshae at the moment, giving Victoria some time with her crush, which Victoria was happy about. Evfra was composing an email next to her and they were sitting in companionable silence both content to secretly enjoy the other’s company. The silence was broken however when Victoria received a ping from her omnitool. She grabbed a piece of elmohk and popped it into her mouth while she opened her email. It was Reyes. Victoria felt a smile grow on her face as she opened the email and didn’t notice the look Evfra threw at her.

To: Victoria

From: Reyes

Chiquita, I have a surprise for you and

a favor to ask of you.

 

Victoria typed a quick response back to the smuggler.

To: Reyes

From: Victoria

Can I know what this surprise is, mi Rey?

 

Victoria bit her lip as she hit send and once again did not see the look Evfra gave her. If she had, she would have seen a mixture of intense curiosity and jealousy. She received an immediate ping and opened her email quickly.

To: Mi Reina

From: Tu Rey

¿Qué tal nos saltamos el adivinanzas

y yo le mostramos? ;)

 

She looked at the message in confusion but before she could analyze it a female angara walked into Evfra’s office and made a beeline to the ambassador. She wordlessly handed her a medium-sized box and then walked away. Evfra was now standing at full attention and was about to stop Victoria from opening the box when she opened it quickly. Her mouth dropped in shock when she took the lid off the box and revealed what was inside. Within the box, was a single potted Mexican rose that was so deep a red, Victoria briefly thought it must have been satin. She gently rubbed a petal between her fingers and bent close to the flower to inhale its heady scent. Her omnitool pinged and she opened it quickly to read her new message.

To: Mi Reina

From: Tu Rey

I hope you liked my gift. Well, perhaps gift

is not the right word? Perhaps bribe might

be better? That favor I mentioned… is there

a chance you could sneak away to Kadara

for a few days? I need your assistance

on something.

 

Victoria sat in her seat and contemplated the rose before her. Reyes wanted to see her? The question was, was this business or pleasure? Probably both knowing Reyes. They had been messaging frequently and Reyes had subtly hinted that she should come see him while her sister was off playing hero to the Heleus cluster. Victoria felt a spike of rebelliousness pierce her soul at the thought of running off to go see Reyes. She decided, what the hell, shut off her mental link, and stood up from her seat. Evfra looked at her in apprehension, already sensing she was leaving, but was startled when she announced her intentions.

“So, Evfra, you all don’t think you’ll be needing me immediately do you? Like, not needing for say, I dunno, 10 or so days?” Evfra stared at her dumbfounded as she quickly picked her food and things up and started to back away from the desk. She pressed on, “Yeah I didn’t think so either. So, I’m gonna go… um, see you later big guy? Like, in two weeks. Um, bye!”

Victoria practically sprinted out of HQ leaving a bewildered and hurt Evfra behind. Evfra felt himself beginning to grind his teeth when he suddenly had a thought. He sent a quick message of his own and then returned to his work, a tiny smile of self-satisfaction gracing his face.

**_20 minutes later._ **

Victoria had quickly made her way to her borrowed apartment and packed a good portion of clothes, armor, and gear before running to Aya’s port. How the hell was she going to get to Kadara? It was then she had spotted Merxius, a turian who she occasionally grabbed supplies for, so he could deliver them throughout the cluster. Maybe she could hitch a ride from the man. She had taken a few steps in his direction when she suddenly felt strong hands grabbing her arm and spinning her around.

“And, where are we going, Tori?”

Victoria mentally groaned. Fucking Jaal! What fresh hell was this?

“Jaal!” She exclaimed with faux happiness. “Hey there, you big pink teddy bear! I was just, um, checking out the ships here. Seeing if anyone needed anything…” Jaal quirked a brow at her and looked pointedly at her bag full of her clothes and weapons. “Oh. That. Um, well… you see…”

Jaal sighed and shook his head. “I feel that I must warn Ryder that you are trying to leave Aya, Tori. Sneaking would be a better word…”

Victoria grimaced. “Hey, I’m no child, for your information. Where I chose to go is my business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a shuttle to catch.”

Jaal shook his head again. “If you are insistent on leaving, I will accompany you. I have a ship in my name for the Resistance. It will be better than hitchhiking on a shuttle.”

Victoria sighed and acquiesced. “Ay, Ja-makin’-me-crazy! Alright, you can come along. But, I don’t want to hear any of your shit!”

Jaal snorted and led her out onto the docks as Victoria ran behind him to keep up. This wasn’t the most ideal situation but at least she was going to see Reyes. Jaal half-turned to look at her when they stopped in front of a modest shuttle. “So, where is it that we are going?”

“Kadara please.” Was the prompt response.

The groan of displeasure Jaal made practically made it all the way to Resistance HQ.

_**4 days later.** _

They had finally landed at Kadara Port and Victoria had already donned on her favorite armor dress. She had finally convinced Jaal to not message Sara, assuring him that SAM would watch out for her and if he felt that she was in danger he would immediately notify her sister. Jaal begrudgingly accepted this and was now walking next to her as they made their way to the slums. Victoria nudged his arm playfully, but he just glared at her sunny disposition to which she just shrugged. She practically skipped to Tartarus as Jaal sullenly followed behind her. She walked into the club and quickly ascended the stairs that led to Reyes’ private rooms. She hoped he was home.

She stopped right in front of the doors to Reyes’ room and turned to Jaal with a panicked look. “How’s my hair Jaal? Is it frizzy? What about this lip color? It isn’t too over the top right? Shit, I should’ve gone with a light pink…”

Jaal just gave her the most bewildered face and Victoria rolled her eyes. This would have to be ok. She accessed the door and walked into the room, where Reyes was indeed in. He looked up from where he was sitting quickly, as if he was ready for a fight, but immediately relaxed when he saw that it was Victoria.

He smiled slyly and stood to greet her with two small pecks to her cheek which she returned. He stood back and said, “Ah, mi Chiquita, perfect timing! You saved me the trouble of having to run after you on Aya.”

Victoria smiled coyly and replied, “Should I go back? You look like the type who enjoys the chase…”

Reyes huffed out a disbelieving laugh, “Ha! Looks can be deceiving.” He looked down at her coyly and lowered his voice to a husky playful tone and said, “I’m too shy for that nonsense.”

“Oh yeah, a real introvert.” Victoria giggled, and Reyes laughed in return. They were interrupted by a loud cough. Victoria turned and around and remembered that Jaal was accompanying her. So much for romance… Victoria turned back to Reyes and said regretfully, “So, what was that favor you needed of me?”

Reyes smiled in understanding and gestured for both to sit down. He offered Victoria some whisky which she declined and then some sort of angaran liquor to Jaal which he downed within seconds. He finally replied, “A business rival, Zia Cordier, lifted cargo I was moving for a client.”

Victoria looked at him confusedly, “And…? You want my help getting it back?”

“We worked so well together on the Roekaar job and you’ve been stuck on Aya for so long, I thought you’d be willing.”

Victoria looked at him skeptically before she answered. “Alright, what did she steal?”

Reyes shrugged nonchalantly. “No idea. Client paid extra for privacy. Considering my fees, it must have been valuable.”

Suddenly Jaal spoke up, “You didn’t check? That’s surprising…”

Victoria shot Jaal a mutinous look, but the angara was staring fixedly at Reyes. Reyes, for his part, seemed unperturbed as he answered Jaal. “Honor’s got a price and the client paid it.”

Jaal sat back with a quiet humph as Victoria mulled over her decision. She might as well do it, she was already here. “Fine,” Victoria said. Reyes smiled at her but before he could speak she interrupted him, “but, we split the profits 50/50.”

Reyes laughed in delight. “Ayy mocosita. 60/40, final offer.”

Victoria bit her lip as she met Reyes’ playful glare. She stood and stuck her hand out and said definitively, “Deal.” Reyes stood as well and shook her hand firmly with a small smile. “You’re 40 and I’m 60.”

Reyes chuckled ruefully and shook his head at her brazenness. He lifted her hand still clasped in his to his lips and pressed a reverent kiss to her knuckles as he said softly, “Only for you, mi reina.” Their eyes met and before they could continue they were again interrupted by Jaal’s very loud and obnoxious coughing. Reyes dropped her hand and took a step back from her as Jaal got up to stand behind Victoria. “When she stops in Kadara, Zia drinks at Kralla’s Song. We’ll start there. See if Umi heard anything that could help us. I’ll meet you there tomorrow after you get some rest.” Reyes sat back down and gave her a smirk.

Victoria nodded in goodbye and was about to turn to leave when a question occurred to her. “Before I go, random question.” Reyes raised a brow at her and let her continue. “Your codename, Shena, what’s it mean?”

Reyes got a devilish look on his face as he replied, “It’s the angaran word for… mouth.” He cleared his throat tellingly. “I’m good with words…”

Victoria tilted her head at him and asked inquisitively, “Among other things?”

He winked and replied, “Never had a complaint.”

Victoria felt her face go bright red as she quickly said, “I better get going…” and fled from Reyes’ room. It wasn’t for another 30 minutes of being back on Jaal’s ship that she felt her face cool down.

_**The next day.** _

Victoria and Jaal had woken the next day ready to take on Kadara. SAM had notified her that she had two missed emails from Sara, but she ignored them for now. She would deal with her sister later. She and Jaal walked to Kadara Port’s markets and wound their way through the throngs of people and finally walked through the doors of Kralla’s Song. Victoria stood at the balcony and quickly spotted a familiar flash of dark hair and sun-kissed skin. She descended the stairs that led to the bar and tried not to draw Reyes’ attention.

Victoria walked up behind Reyes and quietly quipped, “You look like you’re waiting for someone.”

She heard the smile in Reyes’ voice without him even having to turn around as he replied, “That’s my line.”

Jaal and Umi groaned in disgust simultaneously, but she tacked on, “You want a drink or a room?”

Reyes glanced at the asari and replied casually, “Information actually.”

Umi folded her arms across her chest and snorted, “That’ll cost you more than a round of drinks.”

Reyes smirked and tilted his head towards Victoria and said, “My, friend, is good for it.”

Victoria looked at him darkly. “I’ll expect a favor in return.”

“You’re one person I’ll happily owe something.” Reyes remarked as he reached over and pinched her cheek softly.

Umi groaned in disgust as Jaal interrupted, “Doesn’t he still owe you…?”

“What do you want to know?” Umi asked reluctantly.

“Zia Cordier.” Reyes said simply. “She been around lately?”

“You mean your ex?”

Victoria felt her mouth drop open a bit as Jaal made a small noise of interest as they both turned to look at Reyes with varying degrees of accusation. Reyes kept his eyes trained on the asari, but Victoria saw how the tips of his ears turned slightly red.

“Ex?” Victoria asked not-so-innocently. “As in girlfriend?”

Reyes cleared his throat in embarrassment as he stuttered out, “Girlfriend is, such a strong word… Ah, we had a few drinks together, and…” he finally turned sheepish eyes to Victoria who just looked at him in extreme annoyance with her hands on her hips. Jaal made a quiet comment of, “the plot thickens…” as Reyes coughed in discomfort and turned back to Umi. “Anyway… she was here?”

“Yeah,” the asari said impatiently, “met with a salarian. Shifty guy, never seen him before. Maybe he was the Charlatan?”

The smuggler chuckled, “Anything is possible. You overhear their conversation?”

Umi described the area that they were headed to as Reyes listened intently. Victoria was silently warring with two sides within herself. On one side, she was jealous over some woman who may or may not have been seeing Reyes before they had even met. On the other side, Victoria and Reyes were in no way, shape, or form exclusive or have some sort of understanding. They were friends who liked to flirt, but more than that? Victoria tuned back in when Umi had walked away and Reyes was turning to her again.

“If you check the meeting place, I’ll follow the Collective lead. Doubt Zia was meeting the Charlatan, but you never know.” Reyes was saying as he sent her the necessary coordinates to her omnitool.

Victoria looked at him with a raised brow and asked quietly, “Reyes, is this about getting your cargo back or… one-upping an ex?”

Reyes looked vaguely surprised as he asked in return, “Why, Ryder! Are you, jealous?”

Victoria looked at Reyes seriously as she responded softly, “Please, Reyes. Just answer the damn question.”

Reyes chuckled as he cupped her cheek softly. He brushed a thumb along her high cheekbone as he said in an amused tone, “It’s about the cargo, preciosa.” Victoria lightly leaned into his touch and closed her eyes as Reyes kept talking. “I’ll work my contacts. Give me a call when you get to the meeting point?”

Victoria nodded gently, not wanting to leave just yet, but Jaal spoke up from behind her. “Why are we always stuck with the hard work?”

Reyes smirked at Jaal and let go of Victoria as he teasingly said, “Because I’m the delicate one.” He winked at them and sauntered off.

Victoria watched him walk away with a wistful look on her face. That man just did things for her. Jaal was clearly not as taken with him and grumbled, “Be careful, Victoria. Evfra did not give him his codename lightly. Even the smoothest of rivers can be dangerous underneath.”

Victoria rolled her eyes, “Calm down, Yoda. Let’s get to your ship and get to those coordinates.”

They walked out of the bar, Victoria humming to herself and Jaal questioning his life choices and made it back to the ship. They went to the cockpit and strapped themselves in as Jaal took off from the port. Victoria drummed on her knee as they flew over the wild terrain of Kadara. Victoria looked at all the flashing alien buttons and reached over and tapped a button. A loud beeping began to emit as Jaal slapped her hand away and pushed the button.

“Do not touch the buttons. That, was the emergency self-destruct button.” Jaal stated matter-of-factly. Victoria looked at him in horror as he side-eyed her. He gave a booming laugh and said, “HA! I am just fucking you over!”

Victoria giggled, “Fucking with me. You’re cute when you try and do human slang.”

Jaal laughed again, “What are you looking for Tori?”

Victoria huffed and gestured at the multitude of buttons before them. “The tunes, Jaal. Where are the tunes?”

One of his hand’s left the wheel of the ship and searched along what appeared to be a dashboard and flicked a switch. Suddenly what sounded like space disco resounded through the small cabin and Jaal nodded his head along to the beat. Victoria began to follow the rhythm and started to give a little shimmy.

“Ok, I see you, Jaal!” Victoria exclaimed as the beat picked up. Jaal chuckled and watched her dance from his peripheral.

Jaal let the music fill the space before he curiously asked, “Tori, why do you prefer older men?”

Victoria sputtered indignantly, “Well, hello left field! Where did that come from?”

Jaal made a small noise, considering his next words. “Well, Evfra, is 40 arbitrary years old. And Reyes, appears slightly younger. You, are 21 human years old. Why do you prefer older men?”

Victoria gaped at him in shock. Damn perceptive angara. Victoria sighed and thought through her answer. “Well, maybe, I just like my men with a little experience?”

“But your sister says you lack any experience.”

“Fucking Sara… yes Jaal, I am a virgin. Thank you very much.”

Jaal nodded to himself. “Hm, perhaps, you enjoy the idea of someone else knowing what it is you need or knowing they have the knowledge to mask over your own inexperience.”

“What is this, some kind of therapy session?” Victoria asked suspiciously as Jaal gave a booming laugh. Victoria shoved his shoulder playfully and ordered, “Just keep your damn eyes on the damn road Jaal.”

They continued to fly high above Kadara both enjoying the other’s company, but they soon reached their destination at Spirit’s Ledge. They got out of the ship and looked around. It looked like a damn dumping ground, but there was no sign of anyone. Victoria sighed and took off her gloves, knowing she may have to sift around through debris to look for anything of use.

“Shit, looks like they already made the deal.” Victoria muttered under breath.

Jaal nodded. “Let’s look around. Perhaps they left something?”

They searched around, and Victoria found a box lying behind a rock. She tapped it gently with her foot. Of course, if it was an explosive she would be dead, but this wasn’t the case. Victoria shrugged to herself and said aloud, “Here goes nothing…” and flipped the switch on the box. Both Victoria and Jaal braced themselves for an ambush or an explosion.

Nothing seemed to happen and as they both relaxed, Jaal commented, “Your curiosity will get us killed one day.”

Victoria sarcastically made finger guns at her disgruntled companion, “But not today at least!”

They walked back over to where they had parked Jaal’s ship but noticed that a small hidden compartment had opened within a nearby boulder. They both looked at each other in disbelief and cautiously walked over to the boulder. Inside, there was a datapad that seemed to only contain navpoints. Victoria opened her omnitool and contacted Reyes who answered almost immediately.

“Hey Reyes,” Victoria said hesitantly, “We found this datapad with coordinates in it. Some freaky shit out here.”

A low chuckle came through the other end, “That’s Kadara in a nutshell. Must be where Zia is hiding the cargo. Probably left the datapad for the buyer.”

Jaal scoffed, “Seems like a lot of trouble…”

“Dead drops are considered a lot safer, especially for bigger sales.” Reyes responded.

Victoria nodded absently and asked, “So, find anything on your end?”

“Have a little faith in me, Chiquita.” Reyes smoothly answered, “The salarian was a fence. No direct connection to the Collective. My guess? Zia met him to find potential buyers. Let’s follow up on those coordinates. Meet me there?”

Victoria was about to agree when a loud metallic screeching sounded behind them. They both whipped around and were greeted to the sight of a large fiend attacking Jaal’s ship. Jaal made a noise of anger and began to shoot at the creature. Reyes panicked voice came through her comms, but Victoria was too busy shrieking in fright as the fiend charged right at them. Victoria wasn’t even able to reach for her gun as the fiend made to swipe out at her. Before it could strike it fell over dead as Jaal shot it right between the eyes.

“I hate this fucking planet!” Victoria yelled in frustration.

“What the hell was that, Victoria?” Reyes shouted through the comms as Victoria finally payed attention to their connection.

Victoria bit her thumb nail in anxiety as Jaal rushed to his wrecked ship and clutched his head in both anger and dismay. “Um, so, Reyes? Think you can come pick us up? We, um, seem to be a little stranded?”

Reyes didn’t answer for a moment, clearly confused by Victoria’s request, but soon agreed. “Of course, preciosa. Stay put, I’ll be there soon.”

Victoria sarcastically replied, “Where the hell am I gonna go?” and ended the connection.

Victoria walked over to Jaal slowly, who was still staring at his ship in horrified silence. She stood next to him and contemplated what she could say. The fiend had ripped a giant hole right in the middle of the ship and there was no way the ship was salvageable.

“Hey there buddy…” she said slowly. Jaal turned to look at her with a murderous expression. “I know this looks bad, BUT! We can fix this…”

“Evfra, is going to kill you.”

Victoria felt her shoulders drop in defeat, “Yeah…”

As they waited for Reyes to arrive, they gathered their belongings from the ship silently and waited off to the side of the it. Jaal chuckled softly to himself and Victoria glanced at him.

He turned to her and said, “Well, I knew what I was signing up for when I joined you. At least the ship has insurance.”

“The Resistance has insurance? You’re in good hands or some shit?” Victoria quipped.

Jaal chuckled lowly again, “Or some shit.”

As they giggled amongst themselves they heard the low hum of a ship approaching and glanced up to see Reyes’, admittedly extra, orange ship approaching them. He landed close to them and opened the side door. Reyes threw them a cocky smile and asked, “Did someone order a lift?”

Victoria sarcastically laughed, “You’re so funny! Jokes all around!”

He laughed and gestured for them to jump in. Victoria took the seat in the front while Jaal took one in the back and they took off to the coordinates. The two humans shared a small smile as they coasted along Kadara’s natural roads. Jaal took this time to go through his own omnitool and tinker with it, giving the two in the front a modicum of privacy.

“So,” Victoria started off slowly, “what should we expect when we get to this place?”

Reyes flexed his gloved fingers along the wheel of the ship as he answered, “Well, it should either have the cargo or be empty. If Zia already sold it off, we’ll need to track the cargo to the buyer or buyers. Nothing as daunting as the Roekaar.”

Jaal made a small noise at the mention of the Roekaar but didn’t comment. Victoria glanced at her friend but turned her attention back to Reyes. He was looking out at the terrain around them with a hyper-focus that clued Victoria in to a little bit about the man. “Were you a pilot, Reyes?”

Reyes smiled softly, “I do know how to pilot a ship, if that’s your question.”

“It wasn’t, but that’ll do.” Victoria conceded. “You know, if we’re going to friends, I should get to know you a little bit better, don’t you think?”

The smuggler remained quiet for a moment, thinking things through. He answered slowly, “What would you like to know?”

“Let’s start simple. How old are you?” Victoria asked.

Reyes chuckled softly, “Didn’t you learn it isn’t polite to ask people’s age?” Victoria stayed quiet as Reyes sighed, “36. Si, estoy un viejo.”

Victoria reached over and clasped his hand on the wheel with her own ungloved one. He entwined their fingers but kept his eyes locked ahead as Victoria responded to his self-deprecation. “You’re not old, mi Rey. Not to me.”

Reyes huffed a laugh but brought her hand to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. He held her hand to his lips for a moment as Victoria gazed at his handsome face. Victoria felt herself fall just a little more for the smuggler and his displays of affection. Their moment was ruined by a loud booming voice from the back interrupting them.

“Tori has a soft spot for older men. It is well-recorded.”

Reyes let go of her hand to laugh loudly at Victoria’s expense as she slouched down in her seat with a displeased look on her face. “Thank you, Jaal, for sharing that with the class.”

Jaal gave a small rumble and replied, “Just, keeping it real, as Liam would say.”

Reyes wiped an imaginary tear of laughter from his eye and announced that they were approaching the navpoint. He landed a few paces away from what looked like an abandoned building. Reyes surveyed the area, before saying that it seemed safe to go in. Jaal jumped out from the back and Reyes followed quickly after as Victoria put her gloves back on. She didn’t think she would be needing her gun, but if she did need to use it she would hate to get callouses on her hands from using it. She stepped around her seat and made to get off, but found Reyes waiting for her. He proffered his hand to her to help her down which she gratefully accepted. Who said chivalry was dead?

They headed into the building and Reyes headed straight to what looked like the missing cargo. He opened the containers and looked inside. Victoria saw his eyes widen in surprise and as she walked over to him he looked up at her in astonishment. “It’s… empty.” Reyes said disbelievingly.

Victoria peered into the storage unit he had opened, and it was indeed bare. A dreadful thought occurred to Victoria “What if, this was just some elaborate trick to get you here?”

A light came into Reyes’ eyes as he said slowly, “You mean… there was never any cargo to begin with?”

A voice came out of the darkness from one of the corners of the building. “Bravo! I knew you would figure it out eventually.” A woman sauntered over to them. She was pretty, but the malice on her face distorted her lovely features into something truly unsettlingly.

“Zia.” Reyes said flatly.

Zia smirked at Reyes, “You could never resist a big payout.”

Reyes stepped forward and sarcastically said, “What can I say? I’m a greedy man.”

Zia scoffed and looked him up and down with a look of pure distaste. “That’s why you don’t have any friends. You’re selfish.”

Victoria felt a surge of anger course through her and she snapped at the woman, “Reyes is a better man than you think.”

The woman finally looked over to her and Jaal. She studied Victoria with a look of contempt before she shook her head in mock pity. “Oh, honey. You’ve no idea how wrong you are.” She took a menacing step towards Victoria and fingered the gun at her hip. “But you will.”

Reyes pushed Victoria behind him as Victoria clutched at his forearm. He lowered his voice dangerously low as he spoke to Zia, “Leave her out of this…”, he warned.

Zia laughed scornfully at Reyes’ protectiveness. “Wow. You must really like this one, Reyes.”

The smuggler’s patience finally snapped as he spat out, “Cut the shit! What’s this all about?”

Zia narrowed her eyes at the irate man before her and responded lowly, “You’ve been taking all the good jobs in Kadara. It’s gotten more than my attention.”

Victoria peeked around Reyes’ arm to look at Zia as he laughed scornfully. “So, what?” he asked skeptically, “The local smuggling union got together and decided to take me down?”

“Nice one.” Victoria whispered as Reyes glanced back at her with a small smirk. Even in a trap, Victoria appreciated that they had the same sense of humor.

Zia unholstered her weapon and replied simply, “Something like that.”

Jaal brought his gun up from behind them as Zia ordered the other smugglers to her. She didn’t even have a chance to aim her gun at either human as Jaal dropped her in a second flat. Reyes pushed her behind some storage units as the doors to the building flew open and multiple smugglers came swarming in. Pounding footsteps sounded from above as smugglers came down from the second floor from where they had been hiding. Victoria took a calming breath and stepped out from the spot Reyes had hidden her and took a shot at a turian that had been trying to flank Jaal. She heard Reyes tell her to get down, but she ignored him and shot at a human that jumped out at her from her side. Her shot hit him in his side, but the man ignored it and fell right on top of her. She could hear Reyes trying to get to her, but she knew he wouldn’t reach her in time. She felt the man’s hands grab her around the throat and began squeezing down, blocking the air from reaching her lungs. Victoria tried to kick him off, but he held tight to the young woman pinned under him. She scrambled at the hands around her neck as her vision started to swim. She briefly wondered if this was it, but the man above her was suddenly yanked off her. Victoria rolled to the side and tried to catch her breath in gasping pants. The man made a strange gurgling noise off to the side and then she heard a dull thump on the other side of the crate that she lay next to. Gentle arms lifted her, and she was brought up and secured tightly to a strong chest. She felt warm breath on her forehead as a kiss was laid against it.

“Hermosa, ¿estás bien?” A scared voice asked her. Victoria nodded her head weakly as another kiss was pressed to the top of her head. “I should never have dragged you into this.”

“Where’s Jaal?” Victoria asked Reyes who carried her to the front of the building.

“He’s checking the rest of the perimeter. Making sure none of those sons of bitches got away.” Reyes replied. He put her down on the ground after he inspected her neck to make sure she didn’t have any lasting damage. He sighed and tried to joke, “You know, we have to stop ending these jobs like this. With me sweeping you off your feet, what will people say?” Victoria cupped his face as he sighed again. She knew he felt bad for getting her nearly killed and she tried to show him that she wasn’t upset. He closed his eyes as Victoria brushed along his cheekbone, repeating his gestures from earlier at the bar. He finally spoke quietly, “Well, I knew I wasn’t popular, but I never thought the other smugglers would team up against me. Is it odd that I’m actually flattered?”

Victoria shook her head as she studied Reyes’ face. “They might try again…”

Reyes opened his eyes and stared at her affectionately. “You worried about me?” He chuckled lowly.

“Reyes.” Victoria warned quietly.

He pulled her close to him with a loose arm around her waist. He laid a hand against the one still resting on his cheek. “Relax, Ambassador. I know they’re coming for me. They won’t get the jump on me.” They heard Jaal rummaging along the side of the building and stepped away from each other. Reyes surveyed the dead bodies around them and sighed regretfully. “All that effort and no credits to show for it.”

Victoria rolled her eyes at the greedy man in front of her. “You know, not everything is about credits.”

He smiled tenderly at her. “That’s true.” He looked down and then back up at her. He seemed suddenly insecure and Victoria wondered where it was coming from. He spoke again, much more subdued, “What you said back there… about me being a better man? Thank you.”

He looked at her so sincerely Victoria felt her heart melt a little. She looked up at him through her lashes, feeling very shy at being so open with Reyes. “Well, I meant it.”

Reyes reached over to her and fondly pinched her cheek. It seemed to be a favorite pastime of his, but Victoria let him indulge himself. He gazed at her for a moment longer before scratching his neck and turning his attention back to the chaos around them. His eyes settled on Zia’s still form and he hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose I should cleanup this mess. Zia was a piece of work, but… it feels wrong to leave her out in the open.”

Victoria nodded and walked out to find Jaal leaning casually against a storage crate near Reyes’ ship. She walked over to him and took note of his calculating face. Uh oh, what was her friend up to now.

She approached him slowly, expecting him to land a bomb on her but he just studied her with those expressive eyes. She couldn’t take the scrutiny much longer and finally asked, “What?”

Jaal shrugged. “I understand better now. I saw you two in there.” Victoria felt herself go stiff at Jaal’s admission, but he continued, “I may not like Kadara or understand your, infatuation, with Reyes. But, I get it now. He cares for you. That is good enough for me. Whether I think he is good enough for you does not matter.”

Victoria rubbed her still sore neck and softly replied, “Well, thank you. I like Reyes. A lot. But right now, he and I are, just friends who happen to flirt… a lot.”

Jaal nodded, but before they could talk further, Reyes was walking out of the building, finished taking care of what had happened in there. He came over to them and gave Victoria a crooked smile that had Victoria feeling a little weak in the knees. He spoke as he stopped in front of them, “Ok, what’s next on the agenda, drinks at Tartarus?”

It was then that SAM finally decided to speak up. “I would not advise that, Mr. Vidal. The Ambassador has now accumulated a total of 30 missed messages from the Pathfinder. The last, seems to imply bodily harm to Victoria.”

Victoria felt her face scrunch up in a grimace as Reyes and Jaal laughed raucously at Victoria’s misfortune. Victoria pulled up her omnitool and saw that there were indeed a multitude of missed calls from her sister. She decided to bite the bullet and dialed her sister. She answered after the third ring and she was greeted to the sight of her sister’s enraged face.

“And where the hell have you been?!”

Victoria flinched back from her omnitool as Jaal and Reyes tried to muffle their snickers. “Now, Sara. Don’t be angry…”

“Don’t be angry?! I’ve been on Aya for two days and now I find out from Evfra that you took a joyride with Jaal! You better be on the other side of Aya sightseeing or some shit.”

“Ah.” Victoria muttered embarrassedly. “See, that’s kind of the thing. I’m… not on Aya.”

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!”

Victoria bit her lip and quietly replied, “Kadara?”

The shout of fury was so loud, Jaal and Reyes covered their ears quickly to block out the piercing yells.

“You get your ass over here NOW!” Sara practically shrieked. She paused and then in the lowest and deadliest whisper, asked, “This was Reyes’ doing, wasn’t it? Is he there?”

Victoria glanced over at Reyes who seemed to be torn between being truly amused or concerned for his safety. He cleared his throat and spoke clearly, “Ryder! So nice to hear from y…”

“You son of a bitch!” Sara yelled. “You better get my sister to me unharmed asap! I can’t believe you Tor! How could you drag Jaal into this?”

A deep voice from behind Sara spoke and said, “I sent Jaal with the Ambassador. I knew she was up to trouble…”

Sara’s eyes bugged out and she whipped her head to speak to the Resistance leader. Victoria peered into the holoimage and vaguely saw Evfra in the background. Huh, so Sara was at HQ. How odd. She brought herself back to the present and listened to Sara berate the man behind her, “You let my sister go off world?! She could’ve been killed!”

Victoria saw Evfra shrug and heard him distantly reply, “Jaal is more than equipped to handle any situation the ambassador got herself into.” He spoke louder and addressed Jaal. “I expect you back on Aya within a couple of days, Jaal.”

Victoria and Jaal shared a face which left Sara and Evfra perplexed and Reyes trying not to lose it in the background. Victoria cleared her throat self-consciously, “Yeah, funny story. The ship… is dead.”

Evfra blinked slowly at her and Victoria braced herself for the shit that was about to hit the fan. He remained quiet for a moment before saying in a low gruff voice, “We will discuss this when you return to Aya. I will send a Resistance team for your extraction.”

Reyes interrupted and stepped towards the holoimage. “Unnecessary Evfra. I will personally escort the ambassador back safely. I assure you, she is in more than capable hands.” He placed a gentle kiss to Victoria’s temple. Victoria glared playfully at Sara who made a retching noise and so didn’t notice Reyes and Evfra locking eyes in challenge. Evfra gave one final glare at the smuggler and then stalked away from Sara and Victoria’s conversation.

Sara sighed in frustration, realizing that this was the only option. “Fine, Reyes. Get my sister back to me in one piece and maybe I won’t dismember you on sight.” Sara pointed a finger right at him and threatened, “You had better treat her like fucking fine China. Got it?”

Reyes gave her a mock salute and Sara hung up the call. Victoria felt the breath she was holding leave her in a rushed whoosh. “Well, that went better than I thought it would.”

Reyes smirked at her at teasingly said, “So, did I pass?”

Victoria rolled her eyes at him as Jaal spoke up, “We better get to Aya. Evfra, does not like to be kept waiting.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want to keep Evfra waiting, now would we?” Reyes said sarcastically. Victoria gave him an odd look as he helped her into his ship.

If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought that sounded like resentment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jaal listens to space disco, by the way. If you want to know what I'm talking about, look up either space lounge music or Space Disco on Spotify.
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d6/19/ec/d619ec8bece5f4bd5a0ee43343f79ca4.jpg - Voeld dress
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d9/5f/05/d95f05d6cd885afd7d6fde954fe427a0.jpg - Voeld coat


	21. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria gets left on Aya while Sara goes to the Archon's ship. A lot happens, but can the sisters recover?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So super rushed! Forgive me!
> 
> ***I do not own anything in regards to Mass Effect or profit off of any of my writing. This is purely out of my own twisted need to give myself the happy endings I want***

It turned out that Reyes was unable to leave Kadara to escort Victoria. He did look truly upset and unhappy that he was denying Victoria his “capable hands”, but she didn’t mind. This would probably work out for the better as Reyes wouldn’t know how to navigate the Scourge field that hid Aya very well, though he blustered at Victoria’s reasoning.

“I am an excellent pilot, I’ll have you know Victoria.” He had said, annoyed that she doubted his flying skills.

Victoria smiled as he saw her off at the docks. He had contacted one of his angaran associates, a female who was now waiting for them patiently. Jaal had practically sprinted into the shuttle, ready to leave the wretched planet. But Victoria and Reyes held back to say goodbye. She studied his face for a moment, enjoying his expressionate eyes for a few seconds before she answered his underlying question, “I trust you Reyes, but I doubt my sister would be pleased to see you. Besides, you need clearance to enter Aya airspace.”

Reyes sighed and nodded. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right… but, are you sure this is just about Sara, or more?”

Victoria looked at him curiously before replying, “What are you implying, Rey?”

Reyes shook his head and pulled her close for a tight hug. “Nothing, ignore your viejo.” He pressed a swift kiss to her head and pulled away from her a bit.

“Reyyyy…?” Victoria needled, but he wouldn’t budge.

They said their quick goodbyes, with Victoria promising to come back soon, and just like that they were off. Victoria looked out the small back window and waved to a slowly shrinking Reyes who was waving her off. Victoria sighed as he finally disappeared from view and made her way to a small room she would be sharing with Jaal. She would miss Kadara.

**_4 days later._ **

The shuttle landed at what was nearly dusk on Aya and Victoria and Jaal ambled off and headed towards the heart of the city. Sara, Cora, and Liam were waiting for them on the other side of the docks, the latter two with the biggest shit-eating grins Victoria had ever seen and the former looking thoroughly annoyed. Jaal strode up to Sara with a booming hello and proceeded to pat Liam so hard on the back he nearly toppled over with the force of their angaran friend’s enthusiasm. It was a testament to Sara’s annoyance that she didn’t melt at the way Jaal had rolled the r in her name. She just stared down Victoria, who looked at her sister sheepishly.

Sara just shook her head and walked away, heading back into Aya. Victoria walked over to Liam and Cora and quietly asked, “Is she real disappointed in me?”

Cora dropped her smirk and turned it into a sympathetic smile as she spoke, “No, Tori. She was just scared. She doesn’t want to lose you, you know that.”

Liam hugged her round the shoulders. “You know the Pathfinder is just scared you’ll find your own wings and take off. She forgets that you’re an adult, know what I mean?” Victoria sighed and laid her head on Liam’s shoulder. “So, you and Romeo have a good time?” Victoria slapped his shoulder playfully.

After a few minutes of playfully ribbing from her friends, she finally decided that it was time to face the music and speak to Evfra. Victoria ascended the steps of HQ with trepidation. There weren’t many soldiers around at this time and those that remained hardly glanced her way. She finally stood in front of Evfra’s office and peeked inside the open door. The room was empty, save for one grumpy angara. Evfra was leaning over his desk, going over what looked like a holoimage schematic of a kett ship when he looked up at Victoria’s small movement. Victoria gave a small wave at the man who just turned his attention back to his desk. Victoria made her way into the office and approached the desk cautiously.

Victoria took a steadying breath and spoke softly, “Evfra, I want to apologize. I never meant for one of your ships to get damaged…”

“Yet, here we are. Do you think we have spare ships just lying around?” Evfra scorned. “Every ship in our fleet has been salvaged after the kett forced us to the ground. You treat what little possessions we have with such disregard…”

Victoria stopped him with an angry retort, “Now wait just a minute! It was an accident, Evfra.”

He snorted, “It was foolishness.”

Victoria felt like crying. She could take being reprimanded, but she refused to be belittled. “I’m not a child Evfra.” She said in a shaky voice, willing her tears of frustration down. “I’m sorry. I can’t fix the ship, but Reyes said he could replace it.”

Evfra finally lifted his eyes from the holoimage, anger burning in his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure that smuggler has the means to replace it. When I arranged for your team to work with one of my contacts, my intentions weren’t so you can fraternize with them.”

“Fraternize?” Victoria spat. “What I choose to do or who I choose to see on my off-time is my business.”

Evfra growled, “My contacts are off limits.”

Victoria glowered at the man. “You’re damn hypocrite. How dare you? You make a big deal about me and my supposed mistakes, yet you can work just fine with Reyes or, Shena, whatever the hell you address him as.”

The two glared at each other for a long minute before Evfra dropped his eyes back down to his desk. “I don’t have time for petty arguments. Your sister’s team leaves tomorrow for the Archon’s ship.” He looked up to find Victoria’s face had morphed into an expression of shock. He smiled humorlessly. “Oh, you didn’t know? Of course, why would you when you were running off like a spoiled child?”

Victoria growled in her throat but refused to say anything more. She whirled around and stomped out of Evfra’s office. She blindly made her way to the Tempest and flung herself onto her bed. Who the hell did Evfra think he was?

_**The next day.** _

It was early in the morning, so early Aya’s star wasn’t even up yet when Sara and the Tempest team took off for the Archon’s ship. Sara had briefed Victoria a few hours after she had returned to the Tempest. Victoria feared for Sara’s safety, but they both knew that if they even had a small chance to make Heleus a home, Sara had to go after this lead. While Sara had been traversing the cluster, they had been scouring for leads on the whereabouts of the flagship while Gil had worked on the kett transponder. It hadn’t been easy work, but they finally had a way to track the ship and were now equipped to break into it.

Now, here both sisters were, giving each other a hard and long hug, Sara venturing to a far-flung system called the Tefano system and Victoria scared witless at not being with her sister for this mission. But Sara was firm, Victoria had asked to not be included in the higher risk missions and this was one of them. Victoria could have slapped her past self in the face, but she wasn’t going to disobey this direct order from her Pathfinder.

“Besides,” Sara said after they let each other go, “the Resistance put a live feed bodycam on Jaal’s suit to keep for record. You’ll be there the entire time and we’ll both have our links open. It’ll be fine Tori.”

Victoria nodded shakily. Her sister was right, and they were as prepared as they ever would be. Finally, the Tempest was taking off and Victoria gave the whole crew firm hugs and waved them off. The ship rose high into the air and flew off with immense speed, disappearing from sight far quicker than Victoria had wanted. It would take the Tempest approximately a day and a half to reach the system and far less time for Victoria to lose her mind from worry.

Victoria supposed she would catch up on Nexus business, speak with Nexus leadership and avoid Director Tann, and check up on Scott. She would find anything to occupy herself while she waited for news from Sara.

Victoria walked slowly through Aya, few angara were up yet, though the street vendors of the market were unloading and stocking their carts with fresh supplies. Victoria said hello to those who were Milky Way friendly as she made her way to Paaran’s office. She climbed up the steps that led to the offices and tried to access the door, but they refused to open. Victoria sighed and realized that even in a different galaxy, business hours were still a thing. She groaned quietly to herself and wondered if she could find something to eat, but the anxiety rolling in her stomach quickly rebuked that idea. There was only one other place that she could go, and she really didn’t want to. She knew she could go to her borrowed home, but she would find no peace there, and so with a dejected slump of her shoulders and a petulant stomp of her foot, she walked slowly to Resistance HQ. She prayed Evfra went home and didn’t literally live at the base. It seemed like only a few seconds before she stood before the entrance to HQ and it was in fact open as a few Resistance soldiers walked in and out, trading shifts with each other. Victoria pouted and walked in, maybe she could get access to the shooting range she knew was in the lower levels.

After a few helpful angara pointed her the right way, she found the range and felt herself relax a bit. There was no one in here, therefore no one was around to judge her poor marksmanship. Victoria glanced around and saw a case of guns she could hopefully borrow. She accessed her omnitool and thankfully had clearance to use the guns. She opened the case and selected a sniper rifle called Isharay, grabbed a pair of earmuffs and shooting gloves, and walked over to a bullet-proof all glass cubicle and shut herself into it. The space she had chosen was quite large with the target able to be pushed back farther for long-range weapon practice. Victoria had always wanted to practice more with snipers as she preferred to stay further back, so this was a good opportunity to familiarize herself with the weapon. She fiddled with the controls on the target and was soon lost in her target practice.

It felt like hours had gone by, when realistically it had been only about an hour when Victoria felt herself come out of her zone when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. Victoria lowered her weapon and sighed thinking it was probably just some Resistance member coming to practice too. Victoria glanced over and saw that it was not in fact some random angara, but the man of the hour himself. Evfra stood off to the side of the cubicle, leaning against a column as he watched Victoria practice. She didn’t know how long he had been there, but she suddenly felt very self-conscious, he no doubt had been judging her skill. Victoria quickly put the safety on the sniper back on and walked out of her booth while taking off her earmuffs. Evfra pushed off from his resting spot as Victoria was putting away her gun. She tried not to give him the satisfaction of seeing how he had affected her. When neither one spoke, and Victoria could put it off no longer, she finally turned to him with a quirked brow and an irritated expression on her face.

“Do you even have a home, or do you just sleep here?” Victoria asked testily as Evfra continued to study her.

He didn’t reply for a moment, but finally spoke, “I refuse to take the bait to get into another argument with you.” Victoria hmphed in annoyance, but Evfra continued, “You need practice with that rifle. Your attempts are, good, but I can tell you have not had an instructor in that area.”

Victoria pursed her lips, trying to decide whether she should be insulted by Evfra’s remark or to concede. She sighed and decided to be a bigger person. “You’re right. I’ve never been taught how to use a sniper. I’d like to learn though, thought I might take this time to try it out.”

Evfra nodded and walked past her to get the sniper back out. He pulled it out and turned back to her. “I will show you how.” He gestured for her to take the gun, which she did, though with much confusion. The Resistance leader beckoned her back into the shooting booth and silently pointed for her to get back into position.

Victoria did as he bid her and put her earmuffs back on. She shouldered the rifle and brought it up. She took a deep breath and aimed at the target before her. She released her held breath and took her shot. As the others of the past hour, it hit the target though nowhere near its center. Victoria felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned to the angara behind her. She took off her earmuffs, so she would be able to hear the man.

Evfra considered her for a moment and said, “You forget, you are holding an angaran weapon. It was not designed with humans in mind. You expect it to do what you wish without paying it the respect it deserves. To shoulder the weight, instead, put it in the crook of your arm to distribute the weight differently. Try it now.”

Victoria nodded, and turned back around and tried to replicate what Evfra had suggested. She heard a snort of derision from behind her and then sensed the man move closer to her. She felt a hand at her waist adjusting her positioning as another hand moved her grip slightly on the gun.

Evfra spoke in a deep and quiet voice above her as he said, “Do not hold your breath as you shoot. When you release it, your body shifts with the exhalation. Let your body and gun find its rhythm with each other. When you acclimate to the gun with your body’s natural movement, you will be able to move with your gun and be more successful. Shallow breaths through your nose with suffice.”

Victoria nodded again, but Evfra did not let her go. She evened her breathing out as best she could and felt her body adjusting to the weight of the gun in her hands instead of trying to bolster it. She fired off a shot and it hit closer to the center then before. She took another shot and this one hit the other side of the first shot. Victoria felt her face morph into a small smile of satisfaction. She even momentarily forgot the pressure that Evfra was still placing on her body until he spoke up.

“Better.” He said softly. “The true test won’t be until you are on the field.”

Victoria sighed softly and leaned back into the man. She didn’t fully realize she was doing it until she could feel the length of Evfra’s chest line up with the back of her head. Victoria bit her lip, worried she was again overstepping the man’s boundaries but Evfra seemed to either not mind or not to have fully noticed. Victoria took the moment to savor the strength that seemed to emanate from the man. She quietly breathed out, “Thank you, Evfra.”

Victoria felt the man shift behind her and she looked up to see he was not looking at her but was looking at her marked up target. As he studied her work, she felt his fingers flex on her waist. He finally sensed her looking at him and turned his head to look down on her. Victoria noted that he didn’t seem angry at their position, but she couldn’t get a read on the emotion swimming in his icy blue eyes. She felt the rumble of his response in his chest before the actual words made it out of his mouth. “There is no need to thank me. It is better you get proper training before you get one of our own killed while you are out in the field.”

She knew he wasn’t trying to make a joke, but Victoria still laughed quietly at the dry comment. Victoria decided it was best to not push her luck and took a step away from the man before he could get moody. As she was turning the safety back on the weapon, she missed the fleeting expression that flitted across Evfra’s face that could have been classified as bereft. When she had turned to fully look at him, the look was gone, and he was back to his normally stony face.

Even still, Victoria smiled at him. “You say the sweetest things, Evfra.” She giggled at the scowl that started to form on his face. “Anyway, I’m starving. I think I’ll pay you back with some breakfast.”

He hesitated for a moment, but then nodded in agreement. Victoria quickly put her borrowed things away and they left the range. Victoria and Evfra walked together in companionable silence as they walked to the market that now had a decent amount of people, both angara and Milky Way, milling about. Victoria selected a vendor where she bought herself and Evfra some nutrient paste and elmohk. They walked to a quiet place in the memorial gardens and sat with their food. They both remained quiet as they ate, and Victoria looked around the garden with an appreciative gaze. Evfra, ever the workaholic, was scrolling through his omnitool-like device, going through various emails and information. They were briefly interrupted by Vehn Terev, who had been sentenced to community service on the advice of the Moshae. He looked at them with annoyance but moved away from them as fast as he could as Victoria glared at him the entire time.

Evfra didn’t seem to have noticed until he spoke after the traitor had left. “I had wanted to throw him in a cell and lose the key, the Moshae rebuked this.” Victoria sniffed disdainfully but didn’t say anything. She would respect Moshae Sjefa’s wisdom, even if she didn’t like it. Evfra continued, “Vehn mentioned something during the interrogation. You said I was twice the man then he would ever be.”

Victoria felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment while the angara continued to scroll through his device. It wasn’t a question, the way he had phrased it, but she still felt like she had to defend herself. “Well,” she said haltingly, “I meant it…”

Evfra finally looked up from his emails with an expressionless face. “It is difficult to see family go off on missions that are, of a higher risk.”

Victoria let their previous topic of conversation go easily and replied, “That why you were helping me with my shooting? Trying to help get my mind off my sister leaving.”

Evfra looked away, as if he was flustered from being caught in caring. He shrugged and turned to her again, “I send many family members on missions. Many of their kin here experience the same anxiety as you did.”

“Do you have family in the Resistance, Evfra?” Victoria asked quietly, wanting to turn away from her own aching heart.

The Resistance leader’s face formed into a slight scowl as he replied, “I have not seen my family in 10 years.”

Victoria frowned in concern, “Why?”

The angaran man replied softly, “They were taken to a kett slave camp on Voeld. I was the only one to be liberated.”

Her heart dropped at Evfra’s quiet admission. Family was everything, not just to the angara, but to nearly every sentient being. The pain, the loneliness from losing everyone you had ever loved? Victoria could relate. She knew that saying sorry for his loss wouldn’t be helpful or welcome, so she decided to share some of her pain as well. “I was taken from my family at an early age. I was put into cryostasis without my consent and woke up 160 plus years later. My biological family… died, watching me never age in a glass casket. I understand, at least, to some extent…”

They both remained quiet for a moment, both lost in their respective memories when Evfra spoke again. “I, did not mean what I said yesterday. You are not a child…”

Victoria smiled and reached over to quickly squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry too. Friends, or, at least people who don’t hate each other?”

He stared at the hand that was gripping his, before he looked up at her, and responded, “Agreed.”

_**30 hours later.** _

The Tempest was finally nearing the Tefano system, and Victoria found herself in Evfra’s office as they waited for Jaal’s live feed to kick in. Victoria had resisted pestering Sara through their link as she wanted her sister to prepare for the mission ahead of her. In doing so, Victoria had nearly paced the entirety of Aya’s markets ten times before Evfra had calmed her down with another session at the range and even had started introducing her to the simulation ring that the other Resistance soldiers used. Now, they were both waiting in his office, though he remained calm as ever. It felt like nothing ever made the man lose his cool. Why the hell was that so sexy?

The Moshae was supposed to join them when it got closer to the time when Sara and the team would be executing their mission, but that wasn’t for another few hours.

Victoria sighed again and paced around the room, checking her omnitool continuously. She never noticed Evfra’s glances of quiet amusement. The other angara in the room left her alone, knowing all about experiencing the anxiety of waiting for news about loved ones.

After a few minutes of pacing, Victoria huffed loudly, “What’s taking them so long?” she asked aloud to no one in particular.

Evfra snorted, “Time does not move at your wishes.”

Victoria threw him an exasperated glower. “I’m not in the mood for your sarcasm, Commander.”

He shook his head in vague amusement and returned to his work. Victoria threw him one last glare before she sighed again. How that man irritated her and intrigued her all in one, she had no idea.

Finally, the Tempest requested to be patched in to HQ and Victoria practically sprinted to Evfra’s side as Sara’s voice came over his comm unit on his desk.

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control. I’m stepping through the door.”

Victoria smiled in relief as she spoke before Evfra could comment, “Ground Control to Major Tom, how the hell are you?” Evfra gave her a confused frown, but Victoria just whispered quietly to him, “Old Earth song.”

Over the comms, Sara laughed, “We’re still in stealth mode, making our approach to the Archon’s signal.”

Victoria absently nodded as Evfra sent a message to the Moshae to come to HQ. There was silence over the comms and as the Moshae walked through the door a few minutes later, a beeping was heard through the room. As the Moshae came to stand beside them at the desk, the soldiers in the room cleared out and the door of the office was shut. The Resistance leader had ordered the others earlier that this was a top-security mission that they would be briefed on later. Evfra did something on his device and a live feed of the Tempest shot up before them. Evfra grunted in approval, “Good. Jaal’s live feed is working.”

It looked like Jaal had made his way to the front of the ship and joined Sara and Cora, who was also accompanying them. He was faced towards the window of the Tempest and they could all see as the ship got closer and closer to what appeared to be a dual sized ship. Victoria squinted at the odd looking ship but was interrupted from her examination when Cora gasped aloud.

“We found the salarian ark, Ryder!” She exclaimed.

That was when Victoria realized the lieutenant was right, it was indeed an ark. How the hell the kett got it was neither here nor there.

Jaal moved closer to Sara as he asked, “What can we do?”

Sara looked away from Jaal as she said, “Not sure yet…” a bit louder she asked, “Moshae, are you in HQ? Any ideas?”

The Moshae smiled at Victoria before she turned to the comm unit, “It is good to hear from you again, Pathfinder.”

Sara looked briefly at the cam on Jaal’s suit before turning her attention back forward, “I wish we were speaking in better circumstances. But, anyway, before we storm in there, what is it that we’re looking for exactly?”

“A large Remnant relic depicting Meridian.” Moshae Sjefa responded, “It’s in his private chamber, or his sanctum as he called it. He’s very proud of that relic.”

Victoria made a small gagging noise, “Ewww… what a douche.”

Sara was also making a face, but responded, “Well, right up until we steal it.”

The Moshae quelled both sisters with a soft but commanding voice. “The Archon is not to be trifled with. He has no regard for the sanctity of life, not as we know it. Stay confident Ryder but be cautious.”

Sara nodded and said, “Thank you Moshae.” She turned to Jaal and Cora and told them, “Alright, we play this right, we can get the relic and save the salarians.” She pointed to the ark, “I say, we get onto the ark, assess the situation, then sneak onto the kett ship through the tether.”

Victoria finally spoke up, “Sara, SAM, have you checked the status of Paarchero?”

SAM replied immediately, “Yes, Ambassador. The ark is on standby with only the stasis facilities online. The Pathfinder’s approach is feasible.”

Sara nodded and turned towards where Kallo was sitting, “Take us in, Kallo. Let’s make this one count.”

Victoria felt her stomach drop as the Tempest inched closer and closer to the kett ship. As the ship got closer, the immensity of the kett flagship could not be denied. Victoria breathed out quietly, “That is one huge ass ship…”

She felt movement next to her and turned to see Evfra had moved closer to her, though his eyes remained on the projection before them. “Your sister is capable. They will make it through.”

Victoria tried to calm her breathing down as they all watched the Tempest near the ark. In no time at all, the trio had disembarked from the ship and had entered the salarian ark and into their Medbay. It looked about the same as the Hyperion. SAM notified Sara that if she accessed a terminal, he would be better able to assess the situation. Sara accessed the status screen and found an encrypted message from Captain Hayjer, asking for assistance in finding their Pathfinder, Zevin Raeka.

Victoria thought aloud, “Maybe she’s still in stasis?”

Sara nodded absently and moved to the side of the screen where the cryobay was. They walked into the room and as Jaal looked around, it gave the other two angara with Victoria a clear view of the room.

The Moshae gasped softly, “This is where your people slept, Ambassador?”

Victoria nodded at her, “All the arks are equipped with state of the art cryostasis capabilities.” Victoria squinted at the image before her, “Though, that equipment on the ground looks like kett tampering.”

SAM concurred, “Some kett infrastructure has been added, but the ark’s systems are operational.”

Evfra finally spoke up, “But what are they doing with all the equipment?”

“Unknown, Commander de Tershaav.” SAM replied.

Sara interrupted, “But, you’re saying SAM, that the ark is flight-ready?”

“Yes.”

Jaal turned to look at Sara and asked, “Are you thinking of…?”

Sara turned to look at him with a devilish smile, “We’re gonna fly this shit to safety.”

Both angara in the room looked at Victoria with varying looks of shock as Victoria just smiled and shook her head at the desk. “Ay, Sara. Just be careful.”

The trio continued to poke around the cryobay, when SAM noted that pods and other equipment had been offloaded, most likely into the Archon’s ship. There was no good that could come out of that… The Pathfinder team made their way to another Medbay and found two deceased salarians. Sara scanned one and then the other. The second male she scanned read as Pathfinder Raeka.

The two angara made noises of disappointment as Sara sighed frustratedly on the comms but Victoria was shaking her head in confusion, “No, that’s not right. Raeka is female. I never met her, but Dad hand-picked every Pathfinder and made sure I knew who they all were and their profiles. That man is not the Pathfinder.”

SAM piped up as well, “The Ambassador is correct. Initiative records show Pathfinder Zevin Raeka is female.”

Everyone stared at the poor dead salarian before them as Sara summed up their thoughts, “Then, who the hell is this?”

The Moshae made a noise, “If you have a genetic sequencer, you could check the DNA collected by your SAM.”

Sara looked around until SAM notified her she was near the necessary equipment. They watched as Sara accessed a small terminal and she found the necessary information. It was confirmed that this was not the Pathfinder.

Evfra darkly asked “Why would they do this?”

Victoria however, grinned up at the man, “Sneaky salarians, even here. They switched the bodies to hide their Pathfinder.” Victoria turned her attention back to the feed, “Check the colonist’s stasis pod, Sara?”

Sara nodded and led her team back into the cryobay, where they quickly found the needed pod. SAM sensed that a female was inside the pod and Sara hastily found a way to bring down the pod. Sara worked fast with SAM’s guidance and soon they began the process of reviving Raeka. The two angara watched with rapt attention as the processes worked. As the sequence finished, the salarian woke and shot up. Sara tried to steady her, but the woman shook her off, saying that the salarian recovery time was almost immediate. She quickly updated them on why she had been put into cryo to hide from the kett while they all listened intently.

After she finished, Jaal gave a deep rumble of, “We have come to liberate you.”

Evfra gave a small noise of disapproval at his word choice but Victoria smiled warmly. He was too sweet sometimes. Sara nodded and said, “We’re headed into the kett vessel to gather intelligence. Wake up a flight crew and ready the ark for escape. On my signal.”

Raeka agreed, “That’ll be no trouble. And then I’ll work on freeing the ark, so you can focus on your objective.”

Ryder suggested she focus on freeing the ark before they parted ways. Sara and the team made their way to where the two ships were tethered. They entered the channel and made their way across. Victoria felt a whoosh of breath escape her.

 “Ok Sara,” she said quietly, “this is where shit gets real.”

She heard Sara laugh over the comm as she said, “Have a little faith, young padawan. I got this.”

Victoria went around the desk to get closer to the feed, as if it would bring her that much closer to her sister. The team had finally reached the other side and Sara quickly accessed the door that led into the Archon’s ship. Sara stopped in front of the door and unholstered her weapon as the other two seemingly did the same.

“Ok you guys, we keep this quick and quiet and they’ll never notice.”

She opened the door and the team was immediately met with several armed kett.

“I think they noticed!” Cora yelled as they started to unload their weapons at the gathered kett. Victoria clasped her hands over her mouth as she watched the carnage unfolding on the projection. It looked as though there were endless kett, but that was also probably because Jaal kept swinging his body around quite a bit. Victoria could feel Evfra’s frustration mounting as he watched the fight, as if he was pent up with energy like he wanted to be in the thick of it as well. She glanced over and noticed his mouth was in a tight line as his eyes remained glued to the screen, though every time Jaal took a target down he nodded minutely in satisfaction.

“The Moshae sends her regards!” Jaal cried out as he took down a rather large Anointed. Victoria looked over at her and she was smiling and shaking her head simultaneously.

They finally cleared the room, though the element of surprise was no longer on their side.

“What do we do now?” Jaal asked in frustration.

SAM answered, “If you locate a terminal, I may be able to access their systems.”

Sara ran around the room and found a terminal. SAM was able to countermand the alert that was sent out and managed to locate the Archon’s chambers.

“Is the room occupied?” Evfra asked gruffly.

“That information is not available, Commander de Tershaav,” SAM responded, “only the location of the room.”

Evfra huffed in annoyance and Victoria sent him a sympathetic look. She knew how much the man was invested in this mission. Sara and the squad continued but were quickly halted by movement ahead. Sara motioned for them to move forward silently and as they rounded the corner they came face-to-face with a small group of salarians headed by Raeka. Both parties seemed shocked to see the other, but Sara recovered quickly.

“What the hell are you doing here, I thought you were on the ship?”

Raeka nodded and replied, “Too many of our people are missing.”

A salarian man stepped forward, “If we don’t find them now, we never will.”

They were introduced to Captain Hayjer and the salarian team said they wanted to focus on the rescue to give Sara time to find what she needed. SAM found them a secondary route and they parted ways.

“Sara,” Victoria said quietly into the comm, “Those people, not all of them are military. They’re going to get themselves killed.”

Evfra interrupted Sara before she could speak, “And if they do not fight for their lives they are already dead.”

Victoria turned to him and felt her chest constricting with the urge to cry. “It’s not fair…” she whispered to him.

Evfra nodded in agreement and they turned back to the projection as Jaal was speaking, “Hmm, this will not be simple. Only three of us and a ship full of kett.”

Evfra spoke to his solider, “Don’t lose your head, Jaal. Stay strong and clear.”

The team ran through a few rooms before SAM alerted them that the next room had activity within. Sara accessed the door and they were immediately besieged by kett. It was a multi-level room and there had to be at least twenty plus kett.

“Keep your head down and push forward!” Sara yelled to her team.

Cora shouted back, “Where the hell are we going?!”

SAM marked the exit for them and they made their way forward slowly and steadily. This wasn’t an easy feat as a few kett dropships came through the gigantic room. Victoria bit her knuckles in anxiety as the heavy firepower of the kett rained down on her sister and her friends. Evfra and the Moshae stepped away and around the desk to flank either side of Victoria as the intensity of the fight grew. Both were amazed at the biotic abilities of Sara and Cora and Evfra made a few hums of approval at Jaal’s skill. They final kett dropped and the team rushed to the exit on the other side of the room. Pathfinder Raeka commed Sara and asked if the alarms were because of her.

Sara rubbed the back of her head in awkwardness. “Yeah, never really learned the definition of a quiet entrance.”

Victoria snorted as Evfra glanced at her, both clearly remembering when the Tempest had crash landed on Aya while they were on fire. Evfra spoke softly to Victoria, “You both don’t understand the art of subtlety.”

Victoria smirked at him as the Moshae shushed them and turned their attention back to the screen in time to see hear Cora whisper, “I hope this relic is worth it…”

Jaal sniffed disdainfully, “The Moshae knows what is worthy. We can trust her judgement.”

Victoria smiled at the Moshae as she too smiled at Jaal’s endless loyalty. As the team entered yet another room, they came upon a kett worker who ran before they could get to them. It seemed they had been studying a couple of stasis pods that held upper level salarians.

“Targeted them, no doubt.” Evfra murmured in disgust. “Kett tactic.”

Victoria nodded absently as the Moshae responded, “That doesn’t explain where the other pods are. Though, I have a suspicion…” though she didn’t elaborate further.

The Pathfinder team walked into a large room that seemed to be a gun battery. They noted that the large armaments were pointed directly at the ark. That could pose a large problem. Sara rushed to the other side, but just as she was going to access it, the power to the door shut off.

“Shit, it’s an ambush!” Sara yelled as bullets began to be fired right at their heads from behind.

Victoria ran her hands through her hair as Jaal whipped around to reveal several heavily armed kett charging at them. The worst part was that the door they found themselves at had no cover and their shield capacitors would hold out for only so long. They managed to push themselves out of the corner, but the room was so large they couldn’t really find a good spot to defend.

“We won’t last much longer!” Cora yelled in panic.

Victoria shouted helplessly at the projection, “Sara! Get out of there!”

As the team started to get corralled into an indefensible spot, kett began to drop in the background. A voice called out to them distantly.

Sara laughed in relief, “It’s the salarians!”

The small group of salarians jumped down from the top of the room and began to scatter the kett surrounding the Pathfinder team. Victoria leaned heavily against the desk behind her as the kett were thinned out. After taking out more than half the kett, the salarians had to move out to tend to some wounded. As they left, a kett leader zoomed into the room. Sara and Cora began to assault the leader’s defensive barriers with heavy biotics as Jaal simultaneously aimed at the orb that powered the barrier and took out straggling kett. The Ascendant was formidable and left Sara and Cora struggling to maintain their offensive attack.

“SAM!” Victoria called out, “Anything you can do for them?”

“Provide encouragement. I’m afraid the only option is brute force.”

Victoria growled angrily, “Fat load of good you are…”

It seemed to not matter, as soon Sara took the killing shot and brought the kett down. They were free to continue. SAM set them on a new course and the team rushed ahead. They ran down endless corridors but didn’t encounter any kett. They soon found themselves in a dim room but were distracted by movement on the other side of a glass panel. It was Raeka and her team. They were trying to access the door to continue exploring and asked if SAM could assist.

“Raeka, did you see those guns back there?” Sara asked as SAM worked to override the system.

The salarian nodded, “I know, they’ll destroy the ark before we can power up the engines, unless…”

Victoria spoke over the comms, “Raeka, Ambassador Ryder here. If you have an idea, let’s hear it.”

“Venro here used to repair FTL drives on pirate cruisers.” Raeka said, “I think she can make an EMP device.” Venro nodded and she continued, “If it works, then the ark will be out of harm’s way.”

Sara interrupted, “What about your missing people.”

“I’ll keep looking,” Raeka insisted, “Captain Hayjer and Venro will focus on the EMP.”

Victoria shook her head, however, and replied, “Sounds too risky. Lots of things have to go right to make that work.”

Raeka smiled and responded, “Ambassador, that’s when salarians are at our best.”

SAM was finally able to access the doors and the two teams split up after wishing the other good luck. Sara and the team followed SAM’s navpoints and made their way quietly through the halls of the kett flagship.

Evfra spoke softly to Victoria, “A brave people, those salarians.”

Victoria chuckled as Cora spoke, “Ryder, why are we still whispering?”

Jaal grunted in annoyance, “We are infiltrating an enemy ship…”

Sara half-glanced back at Jaal and responded tepidly, “Well, they do already know we’re here.”

“Why take chances?” The Moshae questioned into the comm.

The Pathfinder team stayed silent for a few minutes as they stealthily made their way through the Archon’s ship. They didn’t run into kett, but this felt even worse. Where the hell were they? What if, they were being watched? Sara had just been trying to access a door when it locked up on them. Victoria had assumed it was another ambush, but SAM postulated that the kett were tightening their security.

“The door is voice activated.” SAM stated. “I can attempt to modulate your vocal chords to approximate kett intonation.”

“ _Well that’s a neat party trick…_ ” Victoria grumbled through their link.

Sara gave an awkward laugh as she said, “Let’s give it a shot.”

Sara accessed the panel next to the door and then spoke in a strange approximation of a kett voice, asking for access to the room ahead. Victoria grimaced when the security protocol let them through. She hoped she would never have to hear anything like that again.

“Impressive… but also disturbing.” Jaal summarized perfectly.

They proceeded through the door right into a kett lab. They ducked behind some storage bins and watched as kett scientists gathered round an odd floating specimen. Sara tried to get a bit closer to see what they were up to, but her small movement drew their eyes and the scientists ran. Victoria supposed in every species, there would always be those that couldn’t fight.

Sara sighed in frustration, “Damn. What are they up to in here?”

They poked around for a bit longer but kept moving. There wasn’t really time to do some thorough snooping. They made their way to what they assumed was an exit and were immediately accosted by kett enforcement. It seemed the scientists had alerted their security. It was a small force, so they were easily taken care of. When they had cleared the adjoining room, they jumped down to a lower level and found the missing stasis pods. Sara scanned them quickly but found that all the pods had been emptied.

“What the hell is going on here?” Sara asked rhetorically.

Victoria felt her pulse quicken as they proceeded forward. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach… The team jumped up to reach the other side of the room and the comms were filled with sounds of distant screaming. Victoria was about to ask what they were seeing when Jaal’s feed cut to the floor where several salarian bodies lay. Victoria gasped in horror and backed away from the screen. The salarian bodies were horribly mutilated and twisted on the ground at odd angles. Victoria turned her body away from the screen and ran right into Evfra who had moved closer to examine the projection. He didn’t say anything to her but seemed to curl his body towards her as the screams of pain got louder.

“Jaal! What are we looking at?” The Moshae called out.

There was a flurry of commotion coming from the feed and Victoria turned her head to the screen to see her sister banging on a glass panel. Behind it, a gruesome scene lay before them. In the middle of what looked like an operating room, a salarian lay strapped to a gurney, screaming in pain and fear. Two kett surrounded the poor salarian with equipment in their hands. Victoria whimpered in fright when she saw the poor man’s cut-up body and finally had to turn away again, though this time she did hide her face in Evfra’s chest. He too seemed shocked at the scene and didn’t protest Victoria’s nearness, only wrapped an arm around her to keep her from looking again.

“You! Do you hear me in there?!” Jaal yelled angrily. They heard dull thumps through the comm, signifying Jaal was banging on the glass. “I’m going to kill you myself!”

Cora too, was yelling, “Bastards! You can’t hide!”

Victoria heard the pounding of boots as Evfra let her go. She assumed it was safe to look and turned back to the screen. She didn’t say anything to the Resistance leader and he in turn remained quiet as they watched the screen and prepared themselves to see even more horrible things. They moved into the next room where an ambush lay waiting for them. Sara shouted in fury, still pissed at what she had witnessed, and charged right at the kett, her biotics flaring to life. The kett were disposed of within a minute flat. SAM directed them through a newly opened door and Sara stormed through. Perhaps if she hadn’t been so angry she would have heeded SAM’s rushed warning.

As SAM warned, “Ryder, caution…” the team was lifted in the air and seemed frozen in place. Victoria made a move forward when Evfra grabbed her around her middle and put a firm hand across her mouth to silence her. Victoria tried to shake him off but was stopped when a cold voice came through the feed.

“It’s useless to struggle.”

Victoria looked at the feed and suddenly the Archon stood before the immobilized Pathfinder team. He was the grayest looking kett with a flesh-looking halo protruding from his head. His eyes were dead, like a shark, and milk-white. There was no mercy in those eyes, yet, there was no cruelty either. They were… just empty.

He spoke quietly to his sister as Victoria tried her best not to scream in fear for her sister, “I’ve been in this forsaken cluster for decades, surrounded by amoeba. Then you arrive, a human, able to do the unthinkable. You even evaded me. Such an unlikely rival. It was almost invigorating to have one. And yet, it’s a fitting end.”

As he spoke, he circled the group and studied the team with a detached air. As if, they were no better then cattle for him to choose from at will. As he passed Jaal, the bodycam’s feed gave an almighty shiver, as if being so near the Archon, Jaal’s body vibrated with barely restrained emotion. Victoria, still in Evfra’s grasp, glanced over to the Moshae. She looked intently at the screen, but Victoria saw her hands clenched in fists of rage, as if the woman dearly wished she could throttle the monster before them. The cam focused on Sara, while they couldn’t see her full face, her side profile was visible, and Victoria could see her sister’s face morphed into a look of resolute rage.

Sara snarked, “Is that what sad looks like? I’d give you a hug, but…”

Sara was cut off as the Archon roughly grabbed her around the neck. Victoria felt rage course through her veins and tried to move again, but Evfra held her firmly down. She vaguely understood that he was trying to prevent her from giving away to the Archon that he had more than the Pathfinder team for an audience, but that still didn’t stop Victoria for being pissed. The Archon moved her sister’s head from side-to-side in examination as Cora yelled out, “Hey asshole, back off!” but he ignored the other two squad mates. His focus remained solely on Sara, as he twisted her neck in his study of her. The Archon suddenly jabbed something forcefully into her neck and Victoria struggled even more in the angara’s hold. She didn’t know why she needed to move, but her body was acting out before she could process her actions and seeing the pain on the side of her sister’s face infuriated her to no end.

“A first sample.” the Archon intoned, “Your testing begins now. I will learn your secret soon enough.”

The kett leader was prevented from saying anything else when the sound of a distant explosion reached everyone’s ears. The Archon spoke into his own comm unit and received a muted reply which no one could hear.

“Await my arrival…” The Archon ordered and then turned back to look at Sara. He looked coldly at her for a moment before he spoke to her, “Save your strength, human.” He moved close to her face and examined her so closely, Victoria belatedly wondered if Sara would spit at him. She didn’t, merely remained quiet as the Archon ad the lackey who followed him, backed off and disappeared.

Jaal finally spoke, “Raeka must have run into trouble…”

Sara scoffed and replied, “Yeah, I think we have her beat. SAM, any ideas?”

SAM responded immediately, “I’m sensing a biological transmitter in your bloodstream now. Attempting to neutralize it.”

Victoria gently moved Evfra’s hand from her mouth but didn’t say anything about the arm still holding her around the waist as she spoke up, “Priority number two, Sara. First, you need to get the hell out of that field shit.”

“The containment field only interacts with living matter, Ambassador.” SAM began, “If the Pathfinder expires, the field around her will extinguish until manually reset.”

Victoria growled angrily, “Not really a solution!”

SAM and Sara ignored her as he spoke to Sara, “As you know, Pathfinder, my access to your physiology allows me to enhance your vital signals when required. I can also, do the opposite.”

“You promised you wouldn’t hurt her SAM! Your promised me!” Victoria cried out in terror. Evfra’s arm flexed around her middle as her emotions got the better of her. Sara remained quiet as she thought about her decisions. She asked quietly, “So, dying, will save my team?”

Victoria was about to protest that Sara was even considering this when SAM interrupted, “After stopping your heart, I would attempt to resuscitate, of course.”

Moshae Sjefa voiced her own opinion, “Ryder, we need that relic. This, is the only option.” Victoria glared at her for her betrayal but the Moshae ignored her.

In the feed, Sara’s head bowed in defeat as she quietly said, “Alright, let’s do this…”

A whimper escaped Victoria’s mouth as the other teammate’s wished Sara good luck. Victoria struggled in Evfra’s arms as he now wrapped her in both to prevent her from getting to the comms or trying to dissuade her sister from doing this. Sara took a final breath and whispered, “Love you, Tor…” and then fell lifeless to the ground as Victoria’s heart broke to pieces.

She felt her body go limp in the angara’s grasp as SAM tried to stimulate Sara’s cardiovascular core. Tears cascaded down her face as the seconds passed and her sister didn’t move. It was like holding her father’s body in her arms all over again, but this time she wasn’t there. There was nothing she could do. She tried to access their link but felt nothing but a numb fuzziness on the other side.

 Sara was gone.

A gasping breath came over both the comm and her link as Sara shot up into a sitting position from the ground. Victoria gave a broken cry of relief and sagged back into Evfra’s chest. The arms around her loosened by a fraction as if Evfra too had felt relieved. On the projection, Sara was shaking her head as if to clear it as she got up on unsteady feet.

She dusted herself off as she spoke, “That’s twice now I’ve come back from the dead. Can’t say the experience is improving.” Victoria gave a watery laugh as she looked at her two floating companions with a shit-eating grin. “Well, don’t you two look comfy?”

Cora sounded shaken as she said, “Shut up Ryder and get us down.”

Sara walked over to a small console and managed to get Jaal and Cora down. After the team gathered their fallen weapons they looked around the room with renewed energy for a way out. Nothing like dying to put a spring in one’s step. They accessed a few audio logs from salarians and managed to stumble onto an audio log of the Moshae being tortured. Her voice cracked in pain over the recording and Victoria turned her head in anguish. She heard Evfra make a discontented noise above her and then felt him move away from her to pace irritably behind his desk.

The Moshae turned to him and said quietly, “It is over now, Evfra. We must pay attention to what is going on now.”

Evfra breathed heavily through his nose but did as she bid him and turned his attention back to the screen as Sara and the team poked around the Archon’s seeming study. He had a collection of holograms of the different Milky Way species and his assessment of them, it was truly sickening the cold way he dissected each species to find the “valuable” traits the kett could use from them. Sara found a console and accessed it, hearing a door’s whooshing in the distance. They moved cautiously to the noise and found an entrance to the maintenance shaft above the room. The team clambered up and then down a small hole that would lead them through the ship. It was dimly lit and even with Sara’s armor’s light, it was quite dark. They made their way through the dark and in the distance if they all strained their ears, they could hear the distant screaming of some poor salarian. Victoria wanted to clamp her hands over her ears, but she resisted the urge. She had to stay strong as her sister kept moving, if she could do it then she had to push through too. Eventually they came upon a wraith, who was easily taken care of, that had been feasting on a salarian. Probably escaped and had that wraith set on him…

Finally, after what felt like hours, the Pathfinder team had reached the Archon’s chambers. Or at least that’s what SAM and the Moshae confirmed it to be. It seemed more like another lab as Sara and the team walked through the doors and met with the sight of salarians in cages seeming to be in stasis. Sara and the team paused before one cage and examined what looked like a deformed krogan within.

SAM announced, “The DNA is krogan but drastically altered. It’s clear the kett are close to successfully exalting the species.”

Sara growled, “Bastards, these guys are really starting to piss me off.”

Evfra, finally spoke up, “Barely? Get in line, Pathfinder.”

They continued into the room ahead and found a multitude of Remnant objects floating in the air. While fascinating, there was to time to examine everything, so they rushed through the room with Sara scanning everything she could. Is was at the back of the room they finally found the relic. Sara had SAM begin accessing its map and an image began to project from the artifact. It was Meridian.

“Navpoint secured, Ryders.” SAM intoned.

Victoria finally felt a real small smile break out over her face. Not only was the mission almost over, now they had the next step to secure their salvation.

“So that’s what you’re after.”

The trio turned around and were greeted with a projection of the Archon. He walked to them and examine the map of the Heleus cluster and Meridian at its center. “There’s more to Meridian then you know. Changing the weather is only a fraction of its power, and I will not allow you to defile it.”

He came to stop next to Sara, who merely smirked at him arrogantly, “Well, you didn’t allow me to escape your little trap, but here I am.”

The Archon looked at her sharply and responded, “That wasn’t you. It was the artificial intelligence in your head.” Victoria felt the blood drain from her face as Sara’s smirk was wiped off her face. The Archon knew about SAM. This was not good. The Archon continued, “I’ve seen what transpired in the laboratory, and now I know what makes you, special.” The last word had very nearly been sneered, but the kett’s face didn’t even seem to change from the emotion. The projection began to walk away as the Archon finished with, “Meridian is mine. I’ve tolerated you long enough. Once your vessels are destroyed, you will be stranded here.”

Sara growled in anger and spoke into her comm, “Captain, fire the EMP!”

As Hayjer agreed, an explosion seemed to rock the whole ship and the team tried to keep their balance as the emergency power seemed to come on the ship. It was then they heard breaking glass and a flanging growl in the distance.

“What the hell was that?” Victoria asked aloud.

Her question was answered seconds later as the mutated krogan came barreling down at them. It was truly a hideous sight. It was clear that it had once been a krogan, but like the kett, it had been stripped of everything it had once been. It charged at them and behind it, came a wave of kett. They were momentarily pushed back by the assault but soon began to inch their way forward as they took down the normal kett. The krogan/kett hybrid, however, proved to be a daunting foe. The skin had been hardened even further and it seemed as though the bullets from the Pathfinder team’s guns were barely scratching the surface. It wasn’t until Cora began to rain down heavy biotics on it, that it finally succumbed to them.

Sara tried to catch her breath after they cleared the room and said, “That was a nightmare. We can’t let the krogan get into the kett’s hands.”

“Agreed,” Victoria replied to her sister over the comm, “Right now, worry about getting the fuck out of there.”

Sara nodded warily at Jaal’s cam and motioned for the team to follow her out. As they walked back into the room where the cages were, SAM announced, “Pathfinder, I’m detecting krogan life signs onboard the ship. Several captives are being held not far from your location. They are scheduled for exaltation.”

Sara cursed under her breath, but asked, “SAM, do we have time to get there before the kett restore power?”

“If you act quickly.” SAM replied.

Sara hadn’t even taken two steps when Raeka spoke over her comm “Ryder, I’m pinned down. Don’t think I’m going to make it.”

Sara really did cuss out loud this time, “Shit! Where are you?”

“Near holding cells where they’re keeping several of my people. They’re still alive.” She paused, but then continued in an almost defiant tone, “I ordered Captain Hayjer back to the ark.”

“You should’ve been with him!” Sara said angrily.

Raeka, in a small voice, said, “I know… but I couldn’t leave my people. But, I had to try. And now… I think it’s over. From one Pathfinder to another, farewell. Raeka out.”

The comm went dead as Sara kicked a cage beside her in frustration. Now, an impossible choice. How could one decide whose lives were more important? Sara looked up at the ceiling above her, as if looking for a sign, before she sighed warily. She turned to her team and said resolutely, “Reload. We’ve gotta save those krogan from exaltation. Raeka… knew the risks.”

She nodded for her team to follow her and they headed in the direction of SAM’s navpoint. They had only made a couple of turns when they came across a lone krogan. He raised a weapon at them but when he saw that they weren’t kett he lowered it slightly.

“Who are you?” The krogan asked suspiciously.

Sara lowered her weapon and answered promptly, “Pathfinder Ryder, we’re here to rescue the prisoners. Who are you?”

The krogan finally lowered his weapon fully down as he answered, “Birtak. A scout for Nakmor Drack. I got loose when the power went out, but I can’t do this alone.” He gestured to the door behind him and continued, “My people are being held at the end of the corridor. With a lot of kett in the way.”

Sara nodded, “Ok. We push ahead and don’t stop for shit. Let’s go.”

They all seemed to take a collective steadying breath and accessed the door. Inside the room, at least a dozen kett were milling about. As soon as the doors whooshed open, the kett began firing at them. Sara charged forward and the other three followed right behind her. The kett began to fall like dominos to their brute force. Victoria watched in anxious anticipation as they moved through the kett. It was hard to see what was truly going on as the team sped through the firepower of the kett. The fight though, only lasted a couple of minutes and they finally made it to the other side of the room. A door with two windows on either side lay at the end of the corridor and inside the room were a handful of krogan. Sara accessed the console in front of the door and the doors opened. The krogan within slowly walked out, as if dazed to find themselves saved.

“Can you run?” Sara asked the krogan who stood before her, but they merely blinked at her, still too shocked to speak.

“Pathfinder,” SAM warned, “the kett are close to restoring the ship’s power.”

Sara growled, “Shit. Ok, looks like you all don’t have a choice.” Sara opened her comm to the Tempest and said, “Tempest, we’re going topside. Track for extraction.” Kallo confirmed and closed their comm. Sara opened her other comm for Raeka and called out, “Raeka? Raeka are you still there…” she waited a beat but all that she was met with was radio silence. She quietly whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

She stood there for a moment longer until Jaal’s hand reached out for her shoulder and began to tug her along. She looked back at him and Victoria saw a single tear run down her sister’s face before she nodded and had them follow her out.

It didn’t take them long to find a ladder that led out to the ship’s rooftop. They scaled the ladder up and the feed showed the Tempest flying low to get them. Victoria felt her heart accelerate as the krogan ran ahead to the Tempest’s lowering ramp while gun fire began to come from behind them. The kett wouldn’t let them go. Cora and Jaal ran in before Sara and as Jaal swung around to look for Sara the cam showed her firing rapidly at the kett behind them. Jaal grabbed her arm and hauled her into the ship as it sped away.

It was finally over.


End file.
